Chac's Fury
by Geremy Carnes
Summary: Lara fights artifact smugglers for possession of a powerful, devastating ritual.
1. Part I

**Chac's Fury**

By Geremy Carnes

geremyc@angelfire.com

Lara Croft and Tomb Raider are the property of Core Design and EIDOS Interactive.  This is an unsanctioned work of fiction and is not a challenge to these copyrights.

This story contains violence, adult language, and other material that may be considered offensive.  If you find this objectionable, please read no further.

Part I 

            The force of the blow split the Mayan's lip and caused him to stagger backward.  The Native American's pride was too great for him to let even a slight groan pass through his lips, but his bruised body sagged in pain.  His hands were bound so tightly that his wrists were bleeding, and his naked body bore the markings of a brutal beating.

            The Mayan's assailant strode over to him.  This man had the black hair, flattened forehead, and prominent nose that marked him as a Mayan as well, but he was garbed in a bright ceremonial costume.  Although only one hundred and sixty-five centimeters tall, he exuded a commanding presence felt by the three dozen men and women that were watching the unfolding drama.

            The costume clad Mayan stared down at the shattered man, who was doubled over in pain.  He waited for him to look up.  Their eyes locked.

            "Your obstinacy will be your death, my brother," the assailant murmured quietly in Chol, their native language.  Despite the sinister nature of the words, he spoke them in a neutral voice, maintaining a perfectly calm countenance.  "If you can not or will not tell me where the codex is, then you are useless to me.  I give you one last chance.  Tell me where to find the codex, or I will sacrifice you to the greatest of gods, Kinich Ahau.  For your transgressions, I am sure that he will be merciless to your soul."

            The men and women observing this one-sided conversation watched with rapt attention.  None of them understood a word of Chol, but they could guess what was being said.  So much depended on this.  They barely breathed as they waited for the battered man's response.

            Amazingly, the Native American slowly stood up straight, his eyes never leaving the other man's.  Even through his pain, his dignity shined.  He squared his shoulders and took a deep breath.  He opened his bleeding mouth... and spit on his attacker's face.

            The audience of the confrontation let out a collective breath and began grumbling amongst themselves.  One man in particular, tall, with a handsome face, and brown hair neatly parted on the right side, seemed particularly angry.  He called loudly to the costumed Mayan, "Well, Uaxahpu, now what do we do?"

            Uaxahpu wiped the bloody saliva from his face.  Speaking in English now, he replied, "Now I perform the sacrifice to Kinich Ahau.  Then we will discuss future plans, Alex."  Turning back to the Mayan and reverting to Chol, he said, "You are brave but foolish.  You have gone against the will of a god, and for that you will spend eternity in suffering."  He shoved the unresisting man toward a coffin-sized wooden crate that lay on the grimy warehouse floor.  Indeed, the crate would soon become a coffin.  He forced the Mayan to lie down on the crate.  There was no need to have someone hold him down.  He would not struggle.  He would die a dignified death.

            Uaxahpu began chanting and went through several ceremonial gestures.  The onlookers, now impatient instead of expectant, began to disperse throughout the warehouse, resuming their jobs of moving crates and keeping records.  They performed their duties purposely and efficiently, knowing that in their line of work, laziness and incompetence would cause you to spend the rest of your life in prison.  Or get you killed.

            Uaxahpu finished his rituals.  Pulling a knife from his belt, he said, "Kinich Ahau, I send you this soul as a testimony of your greatness.  Receive it, and be glorified!"  He raised the knife until it pointed straight up into the air.  The blade glinted in the lights of the warehouse.  Then he brought it down and plunged it straight into the man's heart.

            The blood spurted for a few moments, but when the heart ceased pumping, the flow of blood slackened.  Uaxahpu pulled the knife from his fellow Mayan's chest and wiped it on his robes.  He looked up to see a couple people still watching. "Put his body in this crate and then dispose of it," he ordered them.  They moved quickly to do as he said.  Uaxahpu turned and started toward Alex, who was leaning against a stack of smaller crates.

            "I'm growing impatient with you, Uaxahpu," Alex said angrily.  The stony-faced Mayan stopped in front of him and stood quietly, listening to his complaints.  There was nothing he hated more than having to deal with this scoundrel of a man.  But he would do whatever was necessary to complete his task.  "We have wasted four months trying to find this supposed lost city of yours.  We've tortured nearly a dozen of your Indian friends, and not one has given us a shred of information.  I want results _now_."

            Uaxahpu replied calmly.  "Kinich Ahau is restless and has chosen me to aid him in his struggle.  I assure you, we will soon find the temple.  But first we must find the codex.  Without it, there is no reason to go to the lost city of Cholenque."

            "You mean no reason for _you_ to go to Cholenque.  All I want are the artifacts from the temple."

            "But you will never find the city without my help, and I will not help you until I have the codex.  That was the deal."

            "Yes, that was the deal.  But I am in the business of making money, and we've wasted a large amount of it on this search.  I think it may be time for me to cut my losses and move on."

            Uaxahpu's calm demeanor cracked.  "You cannot back out now!" he shouted frantically.  "We are close!  I can feel it!  We will find the codex soon, Alex.  I promise you."

            Alex considered it for a moment, his lips pressed into a thin line.  Finally he replied, "Very well, Uaxahpu.  We'll wait one more week.  If you can't produce the codex in that time, then we will absolve our partnership."  As he started to walk away, he called back over his shoulder, "And when I absolve a partnership, Uaxahpu, I make sure that my ex-partner can never bother me again.  Ever."  With that final threat, he strode off to help some men loading equipment into a helicopter parked inside the huge doors of the Guatemalan warehouse.

            Uaxahpu glared at his back.  He hated that man, who used the ancient grandeur of his people to gain wealth, so he could buy expensive haircuts and wear tailored clothes.  _Yes_, he thought, _soon we will find the codex and the city of Cholenque, and you can loot it and steal as many artifacts as you like.  But you won't enjoy your wealth for long.  You, like all the other oppressors of my people, will pay._  As he watched Alex struggling to lift a heavy crate of explosives into the helicopter, he began to grin.  If any of Alex's men had seen that grin, it would have put the fear of God into him.

            Uaxahpu chuckled.  _You will all pay with your lives._

                                                            *            *            *

            The early summer sun glared fiercely on the tropics of the Atlantic Ocean.  The heat caused great amounts of water to evaporate into the tropical air.  It also created air currents that began to sweep the moist air west.  As it traveled, the great masses of clouds began to rotate.  They swirled, and more and more clouds formed, adding to the monstrous air mass.  With the heat of the sun powering it, the great mass of moisture continued to grow—­and continued to pick up speed.  Meteorologists across the globe lost sleep as they watched the storm and made course predictions.  The storm was spinning faster and faster, and it was heading for the Caribbean.

                                                            *            *            *

            _First months of drought, and now a tropical storm headed our way.  Even the weather is against us.  Why can't—_

            "Mason, come look at this!" a woman called excitedly.  Orville Mason looked up from the weather reports he was frowning over to see Jennie Goldsmith, his dig supervisor, waving at him from the hilltop and pointing at something at her feet.  _She's practically jumping up down_, Mason thought, shocked.  Jennie was one of the quietest people he knew.  _This I have got to see._

            Mason rose stiffly from the rock he had been sitting on, hearing half of the joints in his body snap, creak, or pop.  _You know your old when you stand up and people around you think that someone is stomping on bubble wrap_, he thought grimly.  Trying to smooth out some of the wrinkles in the clothes that he was wearing for the third day in a row, he walked quickly toward the small rise where Jennie and some of the other archaeologists were. His feet kicked up dust and crushed the dead brown grass that covered all of the surrounding fields, where only a few stunted crops grew.  The unrelenting sun had baked eastern Mexico for months, with almost no relief.  Looking up at the sky, he was unable to spot a single cloud.  The air itself seemed to have been cooked, the water wrung out of the sky.  Every time he inhaled his throat was coated with dust and his lungs burned with the dry air.

            His gaze fell to the horizon, and his thoughts turned to the great ruins of Coba only a few miles to the north.  He had visited them before coming to this dig and had been awed, as he always was when he was around such ancient wonders.  The Mayan ruins at Coba were over fifteen hundred years old, and yet their magnificence could still be felt today.  Massive temples for the worship of the multitude of Mayan gods dotted Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, but some of the oldest and greatest stood there.  And the very fact that many _were_ still standing was testimony to the architectural advancement of the culture that had created them.

            _Perhaps that is what people find most interesting about ancient societies_, Mason mused as he approached Jennie.  _Not the bizarre rituals or strange cultural practices, but the fact that they could create such huge and beautiful structures using only their own intellect and brute strength._  The Mayans had never learned to use the wheel, and they had no horses to pull their great stone blocks with.  They did all construction by hand.  And while building vast city-states, worshipping their gods, and fighting never-ending wars amongst themselves, they still managed to find the time to invent a highly advanced system of mathematics and the most accurate calendar used by man until Europe adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1582.

            After nearly twisting his ankle in a gopher hole, Mason reached the small cluster of people, sweating and winded.  _I have to start exercising more_, he told himself, knowing he wouldn't.  Around the group were the foundations of several small buildings.  They were the remains of a small town called Panichi, a 'suburb' of Coba, and they had just been discovered a few weeks ago.  Mason's team was in the process of uncovering them.  So far, they had found little of interest around the buildings besides a few Mayan tools and pottery shards.

            Mason had told the team yesterday that the British Museum of Anthropology, their main sponsor, was preparing to cut the excavation short due to lack of funds.  Tomorrow they would be packing up and heading home.  They had been disappointed, as had Mason.  He knew it was hard to fund a dig like this, but he had hoped that the museum could come up with the money somehow.  He had a feeling that, given just a little more time, they could find something worthwhile.  And an archaeologist always hated to leave a dig unfinished.  He had called Jeff Simons, who was one of the greatest fundraisers in the archaeological world.  He was a man known for being able to generate huge public interest over incredibly mundane archaeological finds, but even he couldn't make a few pieces of pottery into a front page story.  Mason had pretty much given up the hope of saving the expedition then.  But maybe they had finally found something worth sending back to England.  

            "Jennie, what is it that has you on the verge of wetting your pants?" he asked, teasing her.

            Jennie ignored him.  She was busy talking to the woman squatting next to her, Juanita Rodriguez, a local archaeologist.  Juanita's dark hair and darkly tanned skin contrasted with Jennie's blond hair and pale figure, but they had become good friends since Juanita had joined the excavation team.  Now they were staring at something at their feet, pointing and exclaiming.

            "What do you think, Juanita?" Jennie asked eagerly.  "Can you read any of the hieroglyphics?"

            "I can make out the symbols for a few of the gods, but I don't think this is a religious story.  There seem to be several symbols for war and battles.  I think it is an historical account."

            Mason was becoming interested, but he still couldn't see the subject of their discussion.

            "For Christ's sake, would you move over for a moment so I can see what all of this fuss is about?" he said, exasperated from them ignoring him.

            Finally noticing Mason, Jennie scooted back and waved her hand in front of her.  "Look at this!  Isn't it incredible?  Who would have thought that we would have found something this big in ruins that have gone unnoticed for so long?"  Jennie was so excited she was nearly incoherent.  The days she had been spending in the early summer sun had caused her freckles to stand out sharply.  _She looks like a little girl who just got the doll she wanted for her birthday_, Mason thought, amused.  Then he took a step forward and saw what everyone was staring at.  Then Mason nearly wet his own pants._  We might save this expedition just yet!_

            The ground on this small hill had been dug down a few centimeters by the archeologists in search of the foundations of more buildings.  What they had uncovered instead was far more interesting.  An area about a meter square had been cleared away until the rock beneath it had been exposed.  But it wasn't just a rock.  Carved into the stone were hieroglyphics, the picture writing used by the Mayans.  And since the glyphs had been hidden from the elements for the last five hundred years, they were in almost perfect condition.

            "What is it?" Mason finally managed to ask.

            "Sam thinks it's a stele," Juanita answered.  Stelae were pillars of stone that were erected by the Mayans to record histories and legends on.

            Most of the archaeologists on this dig were really just college students earning extra credit by helping out their professors on this dig, but several were experienced.  Samuel Miller, an old friend of Mason's, was an archaeological veteran.  Mason had been pleased when he had joined the team.

            Mason turned to Sam now.  "If it's a stele, then why is it lying on the ground instead of standing up?"

            Sam shrugged.  "It must have toppled in an earthquake.

            Mason looked back at the small section of exposed stele.  "How big do you think it will be when we have uncovered the rest of it?"

            "I can't be sure, but I would guess it will be about two meters square and six meters high."

            Mason grinned.  This could bring some funds to their excavation.  The 'philanthropists' back in England were loath to give grants to small and relatively unimportant excavations like this one, but once they got wind that there had been a major find, the money would pour in, and the millionaires would all brag about how they were helping to advance the world's knowledge of history during their golf outings.  This piece of rock could be just the thing to grab the attention of the rich and famous.  That is, if there was anything interesting written on it.  If they couldn't read the glyphs, then it was nothing more than, well, a piece of rock.

            "All right everybody, listen up," Mason said loudly.  All heads turned towards him.  "We're going to milk this find for everything its worth.  Half of you continue excavating the building foundations.  The rest of you are going to dig this stone up.  Sam, you're in charge of the kids.  Don't let them damage this thing.  Juanita, I need you to find someone who can decipher Mayan glyphs.  I want to be able to tell the newspapers what this thing says.  If there is anything interesting on it, we could get a lot of grant money.  We have to hurry.  If we can't get a grant by tomorrow night, we all go home.  I'm going to call Jeff.   He'll want to know about this."  Jennie grimaced when she heard Jeff's name.  Mason didn't like Jeff either.  But Jeff knew how to excite the public over archaeological finds, and that was how you got money in this business.

            Sam took charge immediately.  He divided the students up and sent half of them back to digging up the foundations.  The other half started the painfully slow task of extracting the fallen stele from the earth.  To dig up an ancient artifact without damaging it was an art.  Sam was just such an artist, and under his calm supervision, the dig progressed steadily.

            Juanita looked worried after making a few calls on her satellite phone.  "There aren't any Mayan glyph experts available around here," she reported.  "They're all on that big expedition to the new ruins in Honduras.  It could be days before any of them get here."

            Mason swore.  "By that time we'll all be back in England.  No one will care what it says.  We have to know what's written on it in time for the morning news."  Mason knew that the public had a short attention span for things like this.  If they wanted to keep people interested, especially rich people, they needed to tell them what it said before the news of the discovery was buried under the latest crime spree or celebrity scandal.  Fund raising was a tricky business.  Sometimes Mason felt more like a politician than the head of a museum-sponsored excavation.

            "Are there any Mayan glyph experts at your museum in England who could fly down here?" Juanita asked.

            "Professor Carlton is one of the world's leading experts on hieroglyphics and he works for our museum," answered Jennie, "but he's on an expedition in the Himalayas.  We couldn't even contact him if we tried."

            Everyone was quiet for moment.  The thrill of their discovery had been dampened by the realization that the public would probably ignore it.

            Mason tried to cheer everyone up.  "Don't worry about it.  The stele is probably just an account of a few wars.  Just remember that we'll be adding a little more information to the history of the Mayans."  His words didn't seem to have much of an effect on his audience.

            "Did Professor Carlton have any students that he might have taught Mayan hieroglyphics to?" asked Juanita, grasping at straws.

            Mason started to shake his head, and then stopped.  He suddenly remembered that Professor Carlton had told him that he had once had a student that he had really enjoyed teaching.  Carlton had said that she was the brightest pupil he had ever had, and the most eager to learn.  Had he taught her to read Mayan glyphs as well?

            "Jennie, do you know if Carlton ever taught Lara Croft Mayan glyphs?" Mason asked eagerly.

            "Lara Croft?" Jennie said disgustedly.  "I didn't even know that she had attended any of his classes.  How should I know what he taught her?"

            "Who's this Lara Croft?" Juanita asked, perplexed.  Everyone around her seemed to have a strong reaction to that name.  She saw expressions on peoples' faces that ranged from loathing to admiration to annoyance.

            One of the young college students spoke up.  "Lara Croft is the greatest archaeologist who ever lived.  She's found more ancient artifacts in the past year than any of us could find in three life times."

            Jennie shared her feelings for Lara as well.  "Miss Croft is nothing more than a tomb raider.  She storms ancient temples, loots them, and as often as not she keeps the artifacts in her own private collection.  She does her exploring for fun, not for knowledge.  I'd be surprised if she knew anything about the cultures whose treasures she robs."

            "Lara is not such a bad person, Jennie," Mason said in her defense.   "She has done more to advance our knowledge of ancient peoples than anyone else on earth.  And her best-selling books have renewed interest in our line of work.  And I know for a fact that she is very knowledgeable about history.  I've had some of my most interesting and thought-provoking discussions with her."

            Jennie just sniffed.  "Well, I for one don't intend to let her anywhere near our discovery.  Who knows what she might try to do."

            "Oh, come on!" cried one of the college students.  "She couldn't hurt anything, and she might be able to help us.  I've always wanted to see her - uh, I mean _meet_ her."  His face turned beet red as his classmates snickered and cracked jokes.

            "Yeah, Pete, we know what you want to see!"

            "I'm sure you'd like to screw, uh, talk to her!"

            Pete grumbled something under his breath and suddenly became very interested in his excavating work.

            Juanita listened to all of this, somewhat confused.  Finally she turned back to Mason.  "If she has studied with a Mayan glyph expert, I think we should at least call her.  If she can't help us then we've lost nothing.  If she can, we may just get that grant money yet."

            Jennie muttered something no one could hear, and then said, "Even if we wanted her help, we couldn't get it.  She's always off cavorting in some God-forsaken country where phones practically don't even exist.  She could be anywhere on earth.  We'll never find her."

            "Wrong," Mason said, smiling.  "She's barely more than a hundred kilometers from here.  She got back from some sort of expedition in Antarctica a few weeks ago and decided to take a vacation someplace warm.  I think her plane is due to land in Cancun in just a few minutes."

                                                            *            *            *

            _Bloody airports_, thought Lara as she searched for her luggage on the carousel.  She was wearing a T-shirt and baggy shorts and her hair was unbraided, since Winston, her butler, had told her she had to wear comfortable clothes if she expected to relax on her vacation.  When she had put them on before leaving England, she had decided he was right.  Dressing casually helped put her in the mood for her holiday.  But she wasn't feeling very relaxed right now.  Lara was amazed that disgruntled passengers didn't bomb airports more often.  She had certainly felt like doing something along those lines many times.

            _So far, my vacation has been more stressful than that business in Antarctica.  At least I was in control of things there._  Things had certainly been out of control for the last few hours.  Her flight from England to Cancun had nearly been cancelled due to 'unstable weather conditions in the mid-Atlantic.'  What do weather conditions in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean have to do with a flight from England to Mexico, anyway?  After a three-hour delay her flight finally departed.  However, the airline made a mistake with the seating arrangements and Lara was forced to sit in coach, between a bawling three year old and a teenager who hit on her all the way to Mexico.  To make matters worse, the awful airline food had upset her stomach.

            She was waiting for luggage that had probably been sent to Zimbabwe when she heard her name on the PA system.  Struggling to hear amidst the cacophony of the airport she heard it again:  _Lara Croft, please report to the front desk, there is a message for you._

            Lara muttered under her breath.  What was it now?  They had better not be bothering her about her guns again.  She had permits, damn it!  Her pistols were in the luggage she was looking for.  She hated being separated from them, but the airlines never allowed her to carry them on board.  It was only after tearing through huge amounts of red tape that they allowed her to bring them at all.

            Her luggage finally appeared, looking rather beat up.  She slung her backpack on, grabbed her suitcases, and began her half hour crusade to find the front desk, fighting her way through the immense crowd of people.  The airport's air conditioners were working full blast to try to cool the hot, stuffy terminal, and were losing the battle.  People headed to and returning from all parts of the globe staggered through the oven-like airport, searching for the exit, although they would find no relief from the heat outside.  Several people who had collapsed from heat stroke were being rushed to the hospital.  The sun seemed hell-bent on bringing them all to their knees.

            After an exhaustive search, she finally found the front desk tucked away in a little corner near the rear of the airport terminal.  _I'd like five minutes alone with the person who designed this building_, she thought as she stalked towards it.

            "Hello, I'm Lara Croft.  What is the message you have for me?"

            "I'm sorry, I'm not aware of any messages for anyone by the name of Lara Croft," the woman said mechanically.  She was dressed in the airport uniform and had a name tag that said '!Hola!  Soy Amy.  Hello! I'm Amy'.

            "It was just announced on the PA system.  Didn't you hear it?"

            "I'm sorry, no I didn't.  Is there anything else I can help you with?"

            "Is there someone else I can speak to about this here?"

            "I'm sorry, my boss is taking a break in the lounge."

            "Could you tell me where that is?"

            "I'm sorry, you're not allowed in there."

            Lara was on the verge of making her truly sorry when Amy looked down at her desk for a moment and said, "Oh!  Here's something.  'Have Lara Croft telephone this number.'"  Amy handed her a slip of paper with a telephone number on it.  "There you go.  Have a nice day!"

            As Lara stood in line for a pay phone she tried to think of one nice thing to say about airports.  Twenty minutes later when she finally got a phone, she still had not thought of anything.

            The person on the other end answered before the first ring was over.  "Hello?"

            "This is Lara Croft.  May I ask who I am speaking to?"

            "Lara, it's Mason.  How are you?"

            "Mason!"  Lara's mood brightened immediately.  "I'm fine, considering."

            "Glad to hear it.  I hope things have gone well on your trip so far."

            "Don't even start me on that.  We'll be here till Christmas.  It is nice to talk to you again, but I have a feeling that this is not a social call.  What are you up to now?"

            "I'm on a dig of the new Mayan ruins near Coba.  Someone recently discovered the foundations of some new buildings and we were sent here to expose them and look for anything interesting.  It was a pretty boring dig until about three hours ago."  Mason filled Lara in on the stele and the team's financial situation.

            "So if you play your cards right, this discovery could save your excavation?"

            "That's right.  And I was hoping you could help."

            "Me?  I hope you're not looking for a donation.  My own explorations take most of the money I make, and my most recent...excursion...required me to travel a lot more than usual.  I couldn't support a whole team of archaeologists."

            "No, no, nothing like that.  It's just that I know you used to study under Professor Carlton."

            "Professor Carlton!"  Lara remembered Professor Carlton well.  He had been her favorite teacher when she was in college.  Actually, he had been the only teacher she had liked at all, and the only one that had liked her.  They had shared a common love for the mysteries of the past.

            "What does Professor Carlton have to do with this?" Lara asked.  "I thought he was in the Himalayas."

            "He is.  That's the problem.  We need to know what is written on this stele, and we need someone who can read Mayan hieroglyphics to read it.  We've tried to locate someone who can help us, but there is no one nearby.  So, well, I was wondering if..."

            "If Professor Carlton might have taught me to read Mayan glyphs," Lara finished for him.

            "Well, yes.  Did he?" Lara could hear the hopefulness in Mason's voice.

            Lara answered him.  "Yes, I learned to read Mayan glyphs.  But—"

            Lara heard Mason let out a deep breath on the other end of the line.  "Great!  How long until you can be here?  Do you need transportation?  I can send a car out to your hotel, but that will take a while.  Can you just rent one?  I'm sure the airport has—"

            "Slow down there, Mason," Lara said with a smile.  "Aren't you forgetting something?  I'm on holiday.  I came to Cancun to relax and get some sunshine.  What if I don't feel like going to your dusty old dig?"

            Mason laughed.  "Okay Lara, no one is forcing you to come.  It is entirely up to you."

            "Yes, it's entirely up to me.  I haven't had a vacation in over a year.  I just got off of one of the worst flights I have ever been on.  I'm tired and grouchy.  I am suffering from jet lag and heat exhaustion as well.  The last thing in the world that I should do right now is get into a car and drive off to a hot field to join a bunch of people digging up old rocks."

            "You're right.  It is a bad idea.  See you in a couple of hours."  Lara could hear Mason chuckling as he hung up the phone.

            _Bastard_, thought Lara with a grin.  _You know I can't resist a mystery.  Especially one that's been buried for a thousand years._

                                                            *            *            *

            "There she is," said Mason to the others.  They looked to where he was pointing.  At this distance they couldn't yet make out the car, but they could see the plume of dust rising from the road behind it.  "I knew she would come.  She's too curious not to."

            "I still think this is a bad idea," Jennie muttered.

            "Relax, Jennie," said Sam.  "She can't hurt anything."

            "She can't hurt anything, and she can certainly help you out."  This came from Jeff Simons.  He had driven out to the site after Mason called him.  Despite the heat and dusty air, he was wearing a white suit and carrying a small briefcase.  "Even if she can't read the glyphs, her very presence here will bring attention to your project.  'World Famous Explorer Lara Croft Examines Newly Discovered Mayan Ruins.'  That might not make the front page, but it _will_ make the news.  Lara Croft is one of the most controversial public figures around.  And there is no such thing as bad publicity."

            They watched as the car came into view and made its way toward them.  It was a brand new cherry red sports car with darkly tinted windows.  _Only Lara would be able to find a car like that on a moment's notice_, Mason thought with a smile.  The car sped towards them, not slowing down until the last moment.  The driver expertly brought the car to a stop right next to the small group.  The car's engine shut off.  After a moment of silence, the car door opened and Lara Croft stepped out.

            After seeing her beautiful face and striking figure, the archaeologists took notice of Lara's outfit.  She had changed into a turquoise leotard and a pair of tight brown shorts.  Her brown hair was now in a tight braid that swung whenever her head turned.  On her back was a small backpack, and she was also wearing a pair of tinted granny glasses.  However, one didn't pay much attention to her figure or her attire after noticing the pair of pistols she kept holstered to her waist.  As she shut the door she examined the car, which had been caked by dust on her drive out.

            "I suppose I'll need to have it washed before I take it back," she said, her strong English accent making the simply stated sentence seem musical.  "This dry spell has turned the entire region into a dust bowl."  Lara turned to Mason and smiled.  "Nice to see you again, Mason."  She stepped over to him and gave him a quick hug.  Then she looked at the others.  "Well, are you going to introduce me to your friends?"

            "Lara, meet Samuel Miller.  He's been on many expeditions for us in the past, and his expertise has come in handy recently."  Lara shook his hand, noting that his grip was as firm as her own.

            "Call me Sam," he said, smiling at her.

            "Hello, Sam," she said.

            Mason spoke again.  "Lara, this is—"

            "Hello, Lara, I'm Jeff Simons, call me Jeff.  I'm here to give Orville some advice on generating public interest in this dig.  It really is a pleasure to meet you.  I've read a few of your books, and I must say, you have a knack for making a trip through some old ruins sound like a great adventure.  I think that, working together, we can get some really large grants for these people."  Jeff gave her a big grin and pumped her hand.  Lara smiled back, disliking him already.  _The best part about being able to fund your own expeditions_, Lara thought as she turned to face the woman standing next to him, _is that you don't have to deal with self-absorbed, fast-talking windbags like him._

            "Lara, this is Juanita Rodriguez.  When she heard that a British museum was sponsoring an excavation in her own backyard, she offered to lend a hand."

            As they shook hands, Juanita said, "I've heard a lot about you in the past few hours.  I'm beginning to understand why."

            Lara smiled at that and turned to face the last person in the group.  Her smile faded.  She didn't bother to offer her hand, because this woman would obviously refuse it if she did.

            "Lara," Mason said hesitantly, "this is Jennie Goldsmith.  She's our dig supervisor and is an expert on Mayan culture and history."

            Lara nodded toward her.  Jennie just glared back.

            Mason, trying to avoid another of Jennie's outbursts, said, "Well, I guess you'll want to see it now before it gets too dark.  It's just a short walk.  Let's go.  Oh, and watch out for gopher holes.  I almost twisted my ankle in one earlier.  They're everywhere around here for some reason."

            As one, they turned and started up the small hill towards the excavation.  Lara made some judgments about the people she was with as they walked along.  In her years as an explorer she had made a name for herself, and like all celebrities, many rumors about her spread.  Some were flattering.  Some were not.  So it wasn't very surprising for her to find such mixed reactions over her among these people.  She had come up against everything from Sam's quiet admiration to Jennie's open hostility before.  Jennie obviously believed the negative rumors.  It did not upset Lara.  She no longer cared much about what other people thought of her.  And some of the disapproving rumors might even be true.  Lara was certainly not a saint.  At the same time, Sam's high esteem for her did not bother her, either.  She was used to that as well.  Jeff Simons would be a nuisance, but his kind were quick to back down if threatened, and Lara was willing to do that if he got out of hand.  Lara liked Juanita more than any of the others.  She was young and looked as if she loved archaeology.  Even better, Lara didn't think Juanita had ever heard of her before today, so she would be able to make her own opinions about her.

            After dodging several gopher holes (_Bloody rodents, someone needs to set some traps_), Lara reached the crest of the hill and saw the stele.  It was immense.  Sam had obviously worked the help hard to pull off a job this big, this fast.  The stele had been extracted from the ground.  It lay on its side beside the hole it had be pulled from.  Lara tried to imagine it standing straight up as it had when the Mayans had still controlled this land.  It would have been an intimidating sight to say the least.

            "We rushed a couple of cranes out here around noon.  Took both of them to lift the damn thing.  We cleaned all four sides off, found some beautiful representations of gods and legendary figures on three of the four sides but there are only glyphs on this one side.  They're pretty, uh, legible, since they haven't been exposed to the rain."  Mason stood back and let Lara walk along the stele, which, even lying on its side, was taller than she was.

            Lara was excited.  She loved rediscovering knowledge long lost from memory, learning things no one had known for centuries.  Only in her line of work could someone get the thrills of physical exertion and danger along with the excitement of solving long forgotten mysteries.

            "Well, can you read them?" Jennie asked, clearly believing that she could not.

            Lara smiled viciously at her and started to examine the glyphs.  The stele had been turned so that the glyphs were on one of the sides, not on top.  Lara tilted her head to look at them, starting with the ones on top and working her way down.  She could feel the tension in the people behind her.  She drew the moment out, enjoying herself.

            When she felt that her audience was about to burst, she said, "It's a history.  And a legend.  The history is about a war between the Yucatan Mayans, who lived in Coba and Panichi and other cities here in the north, and the Chol Mayans, who lived in the rainforests to the south.  The legend is about a quarrel amongst the gods."

            "Well, what does it say, exactly?" Mason demanded.

            "I can't tell you what is says _exactly_, because some of these symbols have no direct translation, or are as yet untranslated.  Also, this stele tells about the war from the point of view of the Yucatan Maya, so there is an awful lot of favoritism here, and I'm sure the facts have been twisted to make them look better than they were.  But it still makes for some interesting reading."

            "Damn it, Lara!  Just tell us as much as you can."  Outwardly, Mason looked very annoyed, but inside he was smiling.  He knew that Lara would tease them like this.  It was her style.

            Lara gave an exaggerated sigh and looked at the glyphs again.  Then she began reading.  "Many centuries ago, the 800s, I think, a Chol ruler began receiving revelations from Kinich Ahau, the Mayan god of the sun.  Apparently, Kinich Ahau was very upset with the human race.  Kinich Ahau provided man with the warmth he needed to live, the light by which to see by, and the energy for his crops to grow.  But man rarely prayed to Kinich Ahau.  He feared him.  Droughts would destroy his crops and dry up his water.  Instead, man worshipped Chac, the god of rain.  All Chac ever did was provide man with water, but he received more sacrifices and was prayed to more often than any other god.  Kinich Ahau was jealous.  So he commanded the Chol ruler to build for him a temple.  The ruler obeyed, and had his people construct the great Temple of Kinich Ahau.  Around the temple, a city grew up, and came to be known as Cholenque.  The ruler thought that his services were finished, but Kinich Ahau had another command for him.

            "The Chol ruler had to perform a ritual for him.  This ritual had the power to banish Chac from the earth forever.  Never again would rain fall on the land.  Kinich Ahau's burning glare would scorch the earth for eternity.  The Chol, who lived in the middle of the Yucatan rain forest, didn't believe that the rain could ever truly be stopped, so they did not protest.  Only the ruler believed in Kinich Ahau's power.  But he was under the god's spell, and had to obey him.  The god ordered the ruler to write down the ritual on a codex.  Then Kinich Ahau told the ruler that he must go to war with the Yucatan Maya to the north in order to capture a nobly born warrior who fought in Chac's name to be sacrificed in the ritual.  Only then could Chac be exiled forever."

            Lara paused for a moment.  She had worked her way a third of the way down the stele so far.  She glanced at her audience.  They were nearly shaking with excitement.  She had heard a couple of gasps when she had said the word 'codex.'  Jeff had a puzzled look on his face.  Lara guessed what he was wondering.

            "A codex is a folded piece of paper that the Mayans used to write on, similar to a book," she explained to him.

            "Are they valuable?" he asked.

            Lara grinned.  "I should think so.  There are only four Mayan codices still in existence.  When the Spanish Missionaries came to Mexico, they had all of the codices burned because they considered them blasphemous.  Only four survived, brought back to Europe as curiosities.  If another codex were to be discovered, it would be one of the most valuable Mayan artifacts ever found."

            Juanita couldn't contain herself anymore.  "Read the rest of it, Lara!" she exclaimed eagerly.

            Lara looked back at the stele and found where she had left off.  "The Yucatan Maya learned of the Chol ruler's intentions.  While the Maya in the rain forest were unable to grasp the devastation that an eternity of sunshine would cause, the Yucatan Maya, who lived in scrub land and suffered from droughts frequently, knew that they and all of the other Mayans would die.  The ruler of Coba, Muxhautl, urged all of the northern city-states to band together to defeat this common threat.  With their combined forces, Muxhautl forged the largest Mayan army in history.  However, Kinich Ahau was on the side of the Chol.  The god's fury scorched the crops of the northern Mayans, and caused famine to spread.  Only Muxhautl's great leadership and faith in Chac kept the army together.  At last, the armies of the north and the armies of the south met and clashed.

            "The battle raged for three days.  The Yucatan Mayans, despite their greater numbers, were being slaughtered.  During the day, Kinich Ahau burned them.  At night, when Kinich Ahau left the sky, jaguars would race from the jungle and attack the Yucatan Mayans.  Muxhautl was on the verge of giving up hope when Chac entered the battle.  A huge storm, the likes of which no one had ever seen before, tore through the sky.  The powerful winds and the searing lightning decimated the Chol.  The rain turned their camp to mud and made movement difficult.  The Yucatan Mayans, although camped only a few kilometers away, were virtually unscathed.  When the storm ended, the Mayans fell upon the Chol and massacred them.  The Chol ruler was captured and sacrificed to Chac.  The Yucatan Mayans continued south to the city of Cholenque and murdered all of its inhabitants.  They discovered the codex in the Temple of Kinich Ahau and returned with it to Coba."

            Lara paused again.  She looked at Jennie and said, "I don't understand the significance of the jaguars.  The story seems to take their attacks for granted, but jaguars seldom attack people.  Is it supposed to mean something?"

            Jennie was glad to know something Lara Croft did not.  "At night, when Kinich Ahau falls below the horizon, he becomes the Jaguar Lord of the underworld.  That part of the legend about the jaguars was probably made up to fit with the theme of an angry god."

            Jeff looked at her.  "That part was probably made up?  Don't you think that the whole thing is just a legend?"

            Jennie gave him an indulgent look.  "Most legends have some basis in truth.  There probably _was_ a war between the Mayans of the north and the Mayans of the south.  The north was probably suffering from a drought, and a hurricane must have struck the peninsula during one of the battles.  Eventually, as the story was passed down from generation to generation, the storytellers added the parts about the gods, the temple, and the codex."

            "Oh, really?" asked Lara.  "You think the story is a lie?"

            "Do you believe in Kinich Ahau and Chac?" Jennie sneered.

            "No, but I do like to keep an open mind about such things."

            "Oh, please.  What evidence could you possibly offer to support a story like this?" Jennie asked contemptuously.

            "The codex," said Lara.

            Everyone stared at her.  Mason was the first to find his voice and asked, "Are you saying the codex was hidden around here?"

            In answer, Lara turned back to the stele and continued with the story.  "After a great debate, the rulers of the northern city-states decided that it would be sacrilegious, not to mention foolish, to destroy a codex written by a god.  Instead, Muxhautl ordered the construction of a great temple at his hometown of Panichi, this one in Chac's honor.  The Temple of Chac was built and the codex was hidden within.  Then the temple was sealed.  The temple had been hidden so well and built with such ingenuity that no one but Chac himself could ever enter it.  Muxhautl then ordered this stele to be erected as a monument to his glory and the glory of Chac.  Thus the Codex of Kinich Ahau's Fury was placed safely away from the hands of man."  The story finished, Lara stood up and faced the group.

            "Mason, you're money troubles are over," Jeff said happily.  "Everyone loves legends, especially ones that end with a hidden treasure.  Every news program and newspaper will have this story in it tomorrow morning.  Of course, we're going to have to make it easier to understand for the common listener.  Instead of 'The Codex of Kinich Ahau's Fury,' how about 'The Lost Legend of the Sun's Fury?'  Much easier to say, don't you think?  And more exciting.  We'll need to set up interviews.  I'll call—d"

            Jeff broke off when he realized that no one was listening to him.  Sam, Jennie, Mason, Juanita, and Lara were having an animated discussion about the Temple of Chac and the codex.  Jeff frowned, then shrugged it off and began making phone calls.

            "Mason, this is ridiculous.  If there was a great temple here dedicated to Chac, it would have been found years ago."

            "Jennie, just because it hasn't been found doesn't mean that it's not here.  The stele said it was well hidden.  What do you think Sam?"

            "The legend is probably just that.  A legend.  But it couldn't hurt to look, I suppose."

            "Look where?  Where can a temple possibly be hidden, out in the open like this?"

            "Underground, maybe?  The stele said they sealed off the entrance.  Maybe it's in a cave or something."

            "I think Juanita is right.  We need to look for possible underground entrances."

            "'_We_,' Miss Croft?  You came here to help us read the glyphs on the stele.  You did.  You can go now."

            "I'll leave when I'm ready to leave, thank you very much.  Now, does anyone want to look around with me?"

            Mason looked at the sky.  The setting sun had turned the sky red.  The sun itself was just a great red ball hovering above the horizon, it's light made hazy by the dusty air.  "There isn't much light left for a search tonight.  Maybe we should wait until morning."

            "I'll go with you, Lara!" Juanita said.

            Lara nodded.  "All right, let's go.  Mason is right about there not being much light to see by, but we can at least get an idea of where we want to look in the morning."

            "All right, Lara, go ahead.  Jennie and I have to make some calls to our people in London.  What about you Sam?  What do you want to do?"

            Sam looked back and forth between Mason and Lara.  Coming to a decision, he said, "I think I'll help Lara and Juanita," he said.

            "Okay," said Mason as he began walking back towards camp.  "Just don't do anything stupid.  And watch out for those gopher holes.  You could sprain an ankle if you step in one of those things."  Two seconds later, Mason stepped in a gopher hole and sprained his ankle.

                                                            *            *            *

            "Well, have you seen anything that looks like a cave yet?" asked Sam.  He, Lara, and Juanita had covered a few kilometers, studying any odd rock formation that they came across.  There was now only a sliver of light in the west.  In a few minutes it would be completely dark.

            "No, I haven't," Lara said, disappointed.  It wasn't really surprising.  She hadn't expected to find it today, but it would have been nice to see the look on Jennie's face after telling her that she had discovered her 'lie' of a temple.  "Let's just get to the top of this incline and look around a bit.  Then we'll call it a night."

            Sam nodded, but said, "You do realize that the Yucatan is a rather seismically active place, don't you?  If there was a cave, it could have collapsed centuries ago.  We may never be able to find it."

            "The Mayans built things to last, Sam.  If they carved a temple out of rock, it's still here.  All we have to do is know where to look for it."

            They crested the small hill.  Lara looked about her.  The land sloped steeply down the other side.  Nothing but a smooth meadow spreading down the hillside.  No way a cave could be hidden around here.  With a sigh, she began to turn around to head back to the camp.  But something caught her eye.  She looked again.  There was something glimmering below, in the distance.  She headed towards it.

            When she got closer, she became excited.  It looked as if there was a huge hole in the ground.  _How could this have gone unnoticed for all of these centuries?_ she wondered.  Then she realized what she was looking at.

            It was a pond.  The water was reflecting the darkness of the sky, and for a moment she had thought that it was a giant hole.  Lara was glad it was this dark out, so Sam and Juanita couldn't see her face turn red.

            "What is this pond doing here in the middle of nowhere?" Lara asked Juanita.

            "It's not a pond," said Juanita, "It's a cenote.  Cenotes are deep natural wells carved out of limestone.  The Yucatan peninsula is a huge piece of limestone.  That's why there are almost no surface rivers here.  All of the water seeps into these giant underground rivers and flows out to sea.  Cenotes are places where the underground rivers have carved their way so close to the surface that the ground above them collapses, forming these deep sinkholes.  The Mayans of Panichi probably used this cenote as their principal water source."

            Lara stared at the dark mirror of the cenote for a few minutes.  Juanita heard her mumble something.

            "What did you say?" she asked.

            Lara spoke louder. ' "_'The temple had been hidden so well and built with such ingenuity that no one but Chac himself could ever enter it.'  _That's what the stele said.  Well, I can only think of one place that Mayans could be sure that no one would ever be able to go.  Deep underwater."

            Juanita's eyes widened.  "Of course!  They could have built the entrance at the bottom of the cenote.  No one could ever enter it."  She grinned.  "At least not until scuba gear was invented."

            "How could they have built a temple underwater?" asked Sam.  "They wouldn't be able to breathe."

            "The builders could have drained the cenote while construction took place," answered Lara.

            "The Mayans didn't have the equipment to drain that much water."

            "If there is one thing I've learned about ancient cultures," said Lara, "it's that they could accomplish anything if they had strong enough incentive.  And an angry god is good incentive.  Now, do you have any diving equipment at your camp?"

            "I think we do.  We were going to do a little exploring in the cenote, to see if anything interesting had been dropped in it."

            "Go get it," Lara ordered.

            As Juanita ran off, Sam asked, "Do you really think that it's a good idea to be diving alone at night?"

            Lara chuckled.  "It wouldn't be the first time I've done this, Sam."

            By the time Juanita returned it was completely dark out.  It was a new moon, so the only light came from the stars, and their reflections in the pool.

            Juanita handed the gear over to Lara.  As Lara examined it, she almost decided Sam was right about this being too dangerous.  The gear was ancient.  The aqualung was so old-fashioned that Lara thought it might have been made in the 1950s.  The valves were rusted and corroded, and upon testing it, Lara was amazed to discover that it still held air.

            Lara strapped the gear on.  She removed a flare from her pack.  Juanita offered her an underwater flashlight, but Lara refused it.  In her opinion, low-tech was less likely to fail on you than high-tech.

            "If I haven't found anything in twenty minutes, I'll come back up," said Lara.

            "Be careful," said Sam.

            Lara dived into the cenote.  No light penetrated the water from the surface.  Lara lit a flare.  It's brilliance caused her to look away for a moment.  Then she began to swim down.

            Lara followed a spiraling pattern.  By going in circles as she went down, she was able to examine the rock walls on all sides of the cenote.

            The tunnel narrowed as she continued downward.  She had no idea how deep she was going, because the equipment didn't come with a depth gauge.  There weren't any fish or animals in the cenote.  It seemed to Lara that she was the only living thing left on earth.

            The water got colder as she continued her slow downward circuit, but she wouldn't die in chilly water in just twenty minutes.  What bothered her was the lack of anything interesting in the cenote.  She didn't want to go back to the surface empty handed.

            She had not yet reached the bottom of the cenote when ten minutes were up.  She continued down.  It would be faster going up, anyway.

            A minute later she was saw the bottom.  The tunnel, which had once gone all the way down to the massive underground river that fed the cenote, was now blocked off.  At some point in time, part of the limestone walls of the cenote had collapsed and obstructed the passage.  The enormous limestone boulders that now blocked the tunnel were immovable.

            The boulders were littered with the bones of unfortunate animals who had drowned in the water.  Lara saw nothing that indicated the entrance to anything, let alone a temple.  If the temple entrance had been beneath the boulders, they would never reach it.

            _Time to go up top_, she thought, discouraged.  She looked up to begin her return swim and saw it.

            How she had missed it coming down, she didn't know, but there, a few meters above the obstruction, was a tunnel perpendicular to the one she was in.  Mother Nature had not carved this tunnel.  Its corners were too square, it's course too straight.  The mouth of the tunnel was half blocked by a giant stone.  The other half of the stone lay among the boulders on the bottom of the cenote.  Some earthquake in years past must have broken the seal to the temple.

            Lara felt that heart-pumping excitement she always felt when she discovered a secret long buried away from man.  She stared down the tunnel.  It was roughly two meters square.  She could not see its end.  She glanced at her watch.  Sam and Juanita would expect her back in less than five minutes.

            _Well, they'll just have to wait.  I'm not leaving until I know what's down there._  She knew that this was foolish, and that her curiosity had nearly killed her before, but she couldn't help herself.  This was what she loved doing.

            Lara squeezed herself into the space between the broken stone and the door.  There wasn't much room.  She managed to avoid cutting herself on the jagged protrusions of the stone.  Her aqualung was not so lucky.

            It happened fast.  One moment air was flowing into her lungs, and the next moment it wasn't there.  She managed to avoid inhaling water but a look at her air tank almost made her scream.

            The hose had gotten snagged on the stone and had torn off.  The tank was expelling the rest of its air, and apparently that wasn't much because it was empty by the time Lara had backed out of the tunnel.

            She looked up.  How far down had she come?  It had taken over ten minutes coming down, but that was swimming slowly in circles.  Now she was flying straight up, pulling herself through the water with all of her strength.  Could she hold her breath until she reached the surface?  Or would she take water into her lungs before she could reach air?

            Lara's muscles were on fire.  Her heart was pounding hard and fast against her ribs.  She felt the adrenaline pumping throughout her body, that sweet rush of liquid fire that she lived for.  And would probably one day die for.

            Would that day be today?

            She clawed at the water.  Her flare burned out, leaving her in total darkness (_I wonder if I'll ever see light again..._).  Her lungs told her body that if she didn't draw a breath she would die.  Her brain told her lungs that if they tried, she would die.

            Lara could feel herself blacking out.  _How much farther? _she wondered.  This was too much.  Her arms ached, her legs ached, her lungs ached.  She could feel her consciousness slipping away.  _Look on the bright side, Lara.  You'll never have to fight your way through any bloody airport again._

            When she broke the surface she was moving so fast that her body came half out of the water.  She fell back in, and then resurfaced.  She tore her mask off.  Her lungs were greedy.  She knew she had to keep control over them if she was to keep from hyperventilating.  The fuzz in her vision began to clear.  She stroked over to the side of the cenote and heaved herself onto the ground.  She was totally exhausted.  She had come seconds away from death.

            She loved it.

            She heard a noise nearby and sat up.  Juanita and Sam appeared.  Sam was surprised to see her.  "You're back early," he said.  "I figured you'd stay down there for at least ten minutes after you said you'd be back.  So, did you find anything?"

                                                            *            *            *

            Uaxahpu pounded on the door to Alex's room.  He kept pounding until it opened.  Alex stood in the entryway, wearing a robe.

            "This had better be good," he growled.  Behind him, Uaxahpu saw a woman peeking through the open bedroom door.  _Well, Alex, I see you have been having a good time.  But I think my news will give you more a pleasure than this woman ever could._

            "Turn on your television, Alex.  One of my eyes and ears has informed me that a very interesting broadcast is going to be on the late news."

            "I doubt that it will be interesting enough to merit waking me," Alex muttered savagely, but he walked over to the television and turned it on.

            Uaxahpu entered the room and stood, watching the news program.  After the anchor got done talking about the current wars and natural disasters occurring in the world, she got to the good news.

            "Earlier today," the woman said in Spanish, "a group of English archaeologists uncovered an ancient Mayan pillar at an excavation not far from the great ruins of Coba.  The pillar, called a stele, was covered with Mayan hieroglyphics.  Lara Croft, a Mayan writing expert and famous explorer, was flown in from England to attempt to translate them.  The story has been dubbed, 'The Lost Legend of the Sun's Fury.'"  She went on to give a brief, and quite flawed, summary of the legend carved on the stone.

            When she finished, Alex sat quietly for a moment, turning things over in his mind.  Then he turned to Uaxahpu.  "This is the codex you are looking for?"

            "The name of the codex is the Codex of Kinich Ahau's Fury.  The reporters changed the name to interest their listeners more."

            "It will tell us where to find Cholenque, and how you are to perform your stupid ritual?"

            "Yes," answered Uaxahpu through clenched teeth.

            Alex nodded.  "Wake everyone.  We're taking off in half an hour.  I want to be on site before dawn."

                                                            *            *            *

            Now the giant cloud mass began to change.  Before it merely turned a smooth white face towards the sky.  But as satellites watched, the center of the whirling tempest began to break up.  A hole bored its way through the middle of the storm, leaving a path of open air from the ocean up over ten thousand meters to the top of the storm clouds.  And warnings and predictions were sent at light speed by the world's meteorological equipment to the different Caribbean countries, telling them that they were no longer facing a mere tropical storm.  They were about to be hit by a hurricane.  The storm, the hurricane, continued its march across the ocean, its single monstrous eye gazing endlessly, looking for the people it must destroy.

                                                            *            *            *

            When Lara reached the dig the next morning, she knew there was trouble.  There were cars and vans and trucks everywhere, more than there should have been.  Way more.  _What happened?_ she wondered.

            Last night she had driven back to her hotel since there wasn't any room for her at the camp.  Mason had promised her that he would get some new scuba gear so she could explore the temple today.  Now Lara got the uneasy feeling that no one would be doing any exploring any time soon.

            Lara had to park her car a good distance from the dig, due to all of the other vehicles in the way.  She made her way toward excavation.

            There were police officers and reporters standing around the dig.  These people Lara had expected.  The find would have generated some excitement, so it wasn't surprising to for them to be there.  What she didn't understand was why there were so many civilians around.  And why so many of them were wearing jackets.  They had to be close to passing out in this heat.  What kind of moron would want to wear an extra piece of clothing on a day like this?

            The many people gathered on the hillside took notice of her quickly.  She wore the same color and style of clothes as she had yesterday.  Some of the people who had seen her the day before probably thought she hadn't changed clothes.  In truth, Lara had many sets of the same clothes.  This outfit suited her needs best when she was working, so she wore it often.  Despite her love for adventure and excitement, Lara was a creature of habit.

            She spotted Mason off to one side, looking at the situation with a neutral expression.  She made her way toward him.

            When Mason saw her coming he grimaced.  "Lara, you're not going to like this but you just have to trust my judgment, okay?" he said.

            "How about you just tell me what all of these bloody people are doing here at your dig?" Lara demanded.

            "It's not my dig anymore, Lara.  The job of exploring the new temple was given to another team.  Our team is heading back to England tomorrow."

            "What!  Did you not get the money?  I'll help pay for the exploration if that's the problem.  I want to see this thing through."

            "We got the money, Lara.  _Tons_ of money.  And that is the problem."

            "I don't understand."

            Mason sighed.  "Lara, it's like this.  A few hours after you left we got a call from our supervisor back at the museum.  It seems that the museum was given a huge grant to give the project over to another museum's team.  So we've been called off.  Our team is to spend the rest of the day telling the new people everything we've learned so far.  Then we leave tomorrow morning."

            "Doesn't your museum realize that the money you could generate from a discovery like this is enormous?  How could they let the project go for a little bribe?"

            "Yes, they realize there is a lot of money to be had.  But this was not a little bribe.  We are talking millions of dollars to support future explorations.  The museum board couldn't turn that kind of money down."

            Lara's eyes narrowed.  "What museum could have that kind of money to throw away like that?  Who do these people work for?"

            "They work for the Denver Museum of History and Science.  But you're right," he said, turning to look up at the exposed stele and building foundations.  "It doesn't make sense.  Something strange is going on here.  To give away that much money, this museum must expect to get even more money in return.  And I don't see how that's possible."

            "Have you talked to the man in charge of them yet?" she asked.

            "They haven't let me.  They keep telling me he's too busy."

            "Busy?" Lara's eyes narrowed.  "I think I can convince him to squeeze us onto his daily planner.  Where is he?"

            "They've set up their command in that red tent over there."  Mason pointed to a large tent half a kilometer from the hill.

            "Follow me," Lara commanded as she stalked towards the large tent.

            "Lara, don't do anything stupid," he said.  Actually, he was hoping she would do something stupid.  He wanted answers, too.  He hobbled after her, favoring his good ankle.

            Some men stood around the entrance to the tent.  They appeared to be just lazing around, but Lara had the suspicion that they were really standing guard.  A suspicion that was confirmed when the men, noticing the guns strapped to her hips, slid their hands inside their jackets.  Lara didn't have any doubts about what they had hidden inside of them.  In weather this hot, there was only one reason for someone to wear a jacket.  _This is no archaeological dig.  What is going on here?_

            When Lara and Mason were a dozen meters from the tent, one of the men held up a hand.  "I'm sorry, but the dig supervisor is very busy.  You'll have to come back at another time."

            "Don't you think that he could make a little exception for me?" Lara asked sweetly, moving closer.

            The guard eyed her up and down, obviously thinking that if he were dig supervisor, he would make a little exception for her.  But he said, "I'm afraid not, miss.  Now if you would please return to your camp, I will let the supervisor know that you want to speak with him and he will try to find time to meet with you later."

            Lara stepped closer again.  "Well, if he's to busy to see me, maybe he can find time to listen to a couple friends of mine."

            "Oh?  Who might they be?"

            In a flash, Lara's guns were out of her holsters and aimed at the man's face.  "I'd like you to meet the Magnum sisters.  Although they don't have much personality, they can be very persuasive.  Do you think your supervisor would listen to them?"

            If Lara had any doubts about these men, they were gone now.  While most people would tremble with fear if a gun were pointed at their head, this man kept his cool.  He was a professional.  "I don't think you would be willing to shoot me with all of these reporters and officials around," he said calmly.

            "Gee, I was just thinking the same thing about your boys over there," Lara said, glancing over at the other guards.  They looked very agitated.  Their hands were itching to pull out their weapons, but they kept glancing nervously at the crowds of people nearby.  If a reporter saw a half a dozen archaeologists packing heat, questions would be asked.  Their weapons remained in their holsters.

            "Good, boys, that's smart.  You don't want to attract attention.  Now, who's going to show me inside?"

            "Go to hell, lady," sneered the man she was covering.  "You won't fire those things off for the same reason we won't.  There are too many witnesses."

            Lara moved in closer to the man.  "You don't know what I may be capable of," she whispered.  The man paled.  His cool was breaking.

            "What's all of this commotion out here?  We're trying to get some work done."  Lara looked at the tent entrance.  Standing there was a tall handsome man with parted brown hair.  Behind him were a few other men and women, who Lara assumed were other high ranking people in this organization.  One in particular caught her attention.  A short man who stood away from the others.  He had the hair and facial features of a Native American.  A full-blooded Mayan, if she was not mistaken.  This new twist set Lara thinking.  She holstered her weapons.

            The tall man's gaze fell upon Mason first.  "Ah, I recognize you.  You must be Orville Mason, the former dig supervisor."  He walked over to him and shook his hand.  "Nice to meet you, Orville.  I'm Alex Gordon, your replacement."  Mason ground his teeth.  He hated being called by his first name, and he hated being called 'former' anything.

            "I suppose you're here to find out why my museum paid so much to take over this expedition."

            "Yes, we were wondering about that," said Mason.  "Where does your 'museum' get that kind of money, and how does it expect to replace it?"

            Alex smiled.  "If you're looking for some kind of conspiracy, I'm afraid you're going to be awfully disappointed.  You see, our museum curator is a Mayan fanatic, because he is Mayan," he said, and turned to point at the short Mayan standing off to the side.  "He was raised in a large poverty-stricken family.  He immigrated to the United States years ago, made a fortune in business, and founded our museum.  He has made it his goal to put together the greatest collection of Mayan artifacts on earth, to show the world the former glory of his people.  He hopes to use the money raised by our museum's visitors to help with the plight of the Mayan people."

            Lara looked back at the Mayan.  He was looking at her with dark beady eyes.  Could this just be a case of a man trying to raise money to help his destitute people?  One of the saddest stories in history was the fall of the Mayans.  Their great glorious empire outshone all of the other in the history of North America.  But just before the arrival of Europeans, the empire collapsed, and the Mayans were reduced to few straggling bands in decaying cities.  Now, five hundred years after the collapse of the empire, most Mayans were poor farmers, discriminated against by their government and without hope of a happy future.  If this man was trying to raise money to help his kin, there was nothing wrong with that.  _But if he had tens of millions of dollars to obtain this excavation, why didn't he just give that money to his people?_

            Alex continued.  "If this temple has never been looted, then the artifacts within it should be extremely valuable.  Our curator believes that the money generated by putting these artifacts in traveling exhibits will make back all the money we lose and more.  So you see, there is nothing here for you to worry about.  Now, if you would please return to your camp, I have much work to do."

            He turned to go back to his tent, but Lara's voice stopped him.  "If these men are simply archaeologists, why are they carrying guns?"

            Alex turned around slowly.  Before, he had given her merely a cursory glance before focusing attention on Mason.  Now he really looked at her.  Lara noticed the slight widening of eyes, the slight faltering of his smile.  Then his face was again composed, his smile wider than ever.

            "Well.  Miss Lara Croft.  I had no idea that you were part of this excavation."  A sharp glance at one of the men next to him told Lara who had been responsible for giving Alex information on the members of the English dig team, and that that person was in big trouble.  Apparently this man realized the same thing, because he paled noticeably.

            "I joined on when things started getting interesting," she said.

            "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you.  I've wondered if I would ever get to see archaeology's most controversial figure face to face."

            "You didn't answer my question, Mr. Gordon.  Why are your men carrying weapons?"

            "Please, call me Alex.  As to your question, the reason is quite obvious.  The treasures in the temple may be worth millions.  We have to keep them safe from thieves, who would sale them on the black market."

            "Why do I not believe you?"

            "I think, Lara, that—"

            "Miss Croft, thank you."

            "I think, Miss Croft, that your past dealings have made you a very distrustful person.  We have no evil intentions, I assure you.  Now, if you would please leave, I must get back to work.  History is going to be made today."  With that, he turned and walked back to his tent.

            Lara was fuming.  She knew that something was not right, but this man had answered all of their questions so coolly that anyone else would believe him.  Without any proof, there was nothing she could do about it.  She headed back to her car with Mason.

            She had decided on one thing, though.  These men would not get the codex.  If Mason wasn't able to reach the temple, then Lara would.  Once she had the codex, she would figure out what this was all about.

            She looked back over her shoulder.  Alex and his men were standing just outside of the tent entrance and were having a heated discussion.  Lara was too far away to hear what they were saying, but she had a feeling that she was the main topic of that discussion.  She glanced at the Mayan man.  He was still staring at her.

            _That man is no businessman, and he isn't a museum curator, either.  I don't know what is going on here, but whatever it is, that man is at the center of it._

                                                            *            *            *

            Lara crept forward, her guns drawn and ready.  The grass was high enough to hide her from view, but she could still be heard if she wasn't quiet enough.

            There was a warm breeze blowing through the open field, causing the grass to sway back and forth, giving the earth the appearance of being a living entity itself.  But whether the billowing field was squirming with ecstasy or writhing in pain was anyone's guess.  

            Lara could just see the stars glinting off the surface of the cenote through the grass.  She didn't see any guards.

            After leaving the dig site earlier that day, she had gone shopping.  She now carried the air tanks and mask she had bought.  This gear was the best money could buy.  She was not going to make the same mistake twice, no matter how exhilarating the mistake may have been.

            No one knew she was here, and she intended to keep it that way.  Mason would never allow her to breach the contract between the two museums like this, even if he did agree with her.  And Lara didn't want to think about what Alex would do to her if he caught her.

            Lara became even more alert as she neared the cenote.  She was certain Alex had posted guards here.  He would not take the risk that someone may try to beat him to the codex.  Especially since he knew she was around.

            Lara spotted a red glow out of the corner of her eye.  She looked.  A small red light shone brightly for a moment, then died down.  A cigarette.  She had spotted a guard.

            Lara approached him from behind.  If she were forced to use her guns, her secret would be out.  She had to do this quietly.

            The man was very alert.  Despite the time of night and the monotony of guard duty, he was taking the job seriously.  These people were pros.  He was dressed in a dark gray uniform, the best color for blending into the night.  Only his bad habit gave him away.

            The guard never knew what hit him.  Lara's arm came around his neck, cutting off his ability to breath, as well as to cry out.  At the same time she slammed the barrel of her gun against the back of his head.  He was unconscious immediately.

            Lara quickly gagged him and bound his hands and feet with duct tape from her pack.  Then she continued to circle the cenote.

            Ten minutes and two guards later, she felt that she had ensured her safety as much as she could.  It was time to get down to business.

            She strapped on her aqualung and walked toward the edge of the cenote.  The water was rippling in the breeze, casting weak reflections of starlight.  It was mesmerizing.  In her travels, Lara had seen that nature could be very beautiful.  She had also seen that danger often lurked beyond that beauty.

            As she prepared to put her mask on, she heard a rustling in the grass behind her.  She whirled around, pulling her guns from their holsters.  The movement stopped.  She could see nothing.

            "Come out, or I start shooting!" she called, hoping that this was the only person within earshot.

            The rustling began again, coming closer.

            She heard a voice speaking calmly.  "Don't worry, Lara, it's only me.  Sam."

            Sam?  What was he doing here?

            Sam stepped out of the tall grass.  He was wearing a wet suit and diving equipment.  Lara wouldn't even have recognized him if she hadn't been able to see his brown hair and eyes behind his mask.

            "I thought I might find you here," he said casually.  "Are you ready for our dive?"

            "_Our_ dive?  What are you doing here, Sam?  If anyone finds out about this, you'll lose your job at the museum.  It's a breach of contract."  Lara sounded displeased, but she was really impressed.  She had judged Sam to be a good archaeologist, nothing more.  Now it appeared that there was a lot more to him than that.

            "Then we just won't let them find out.  And if they do, so what?  With my credentials I can get a job somewhere else easily."

            "Why are you doing this?" Lara asked, truly intrigued.

            "The same reasons you are," he said impatiently.  "This is an incredible find.  I don't want to keep the codex.  I just want to be the one who finds it.  Then that rich nut can do whatever he wants with it." Sam frowned.  "And I'm worried about what this guy really wants.  He has to have a reason for doing what he's doing, and his explanation wasn't worth shit.  Maybe we can trade the codex for some answers.  Real answers."

            Lara smiled.  "Great.  Although I'm not entirely sure that we should give the codex back.  But we'll worry about that later."

            "Okay.  Now, are we going to do this or am I going to have to go in there alone?"

            "Hell will freeze over before I let you go in there without me.  Let's go."

            Lara pulled her mask on and leaped in at the same time as Sam.  Cold dark water swirled around her.  She prepared to light a flare when the powerful beam of Sam's flashlight cut through the darkness.  Sam gestured.  Lead the way.

            Lara swam steadily down the cenote, recalling her trip to the surface just twenty-four hours ago.  The very thought of it caused her gut to clench and her heart rate to pick up.  She swam faster.

            The entrance to the tunnel soon came into view.  Lara had brought something along in case she found it impossible to squeeze through the small opening, but she got through all right without using it.  She turned to wait for Sam.  Although larger and well-built, Sam too managed to make it through the opening without a mishap.  Together they began to swim down the tunnel, making a journey that no man or woman had been on in over a thousand years.

            The tunnel was long.  There were no branches or sharp turns.  It just kept moving on its course, slightly downhill.

            They had been underwater for half an hour when the tunnel came to an end.  Ahead of them was a spiraling staircase, carved from stone.  Sam and Lara ignored the steps and swam up the staircase.  Lara wondered what this place had been like before it had been filled with water.  She imagined the Mayans walking up this staircase a thousand years ago to give a final prayer to Chac before sealing the temple.  Her stomach fluttered in anticipation of what they might find.

            Lara was beginning to worry about whether or not they would have enough air to make it back the way they came when they saw the top of the stairs.  She and Sam broke the surface and took off their masks.  The water ended a meter from the top of the staircase.  Leading away from the staircase was a long hallway with a tall peaked ceiling.  A small waterfall fell from the hall down the stairs until it reached the pool of water they were floating in.  The light of Sam's flashlight did not reach the end of the hall.

            "How can this be out of the water?  It doesn't make sense," Sam muttered as he took off his aqualung.

            Lara did the same.  "It does make sense.  The tunnel led us back to the hill dig site.  It's at a higher elevation than the cenote, so it's above the water level.  We're probably right under your excavation."

            "I guess we should have dug a little deeper," Sam grumbled.

            They left their scuba gear next to the underwater stairs and proceeded down the hall.  They moved slowly because Lara insisted on keeping a constant lookout for booby traps.  It was hard for her to keep her concentration on possible traps when the tunnel itself was so interesting.  The walls of the tunnel were made of stone.  Water dripped from between the cracks in the stones and cascaded down the wall to the floor of the hall.  The hall went slightly uphill, so all of the water flowed back toward the little waterfall and on into the submersed stairwell.  The floor was really a never-ending, two centimeter deep river.

            "Where do you suppose all of this water is coming from?" asked Sam as he studied the walls under the glare of his flashlight.

            "One of Juanita's underground rivers, probably.  It must flow right outside of the hall, and the water seeps in through the cracks.  Be careful not to break through the wall, or things could get really wet in a hurry."

            "I'll keep that in mind."

            They continued along the hall, probing the darkness with Sam's flashlight and carefully examining the floor beneath the water swirling at their feet before moving forward, then stopping to repeat the process.

            Lara's breathing sped up from excitement.  If this temple was as important to the Mayans as she thought it was, there should be several booby traps in it.  She needed to be careful not to let her excitement make her careless.  She forgot all about that when the hallway came to an end.

            Before Sam and Lara was a waterfall.  It was a thin sheet of water, pouring from a crack in the roof.  The fall blocked the doorway into a room beyond.  Water flowed out of the room and down the hall.  They could hear the splashes of a lot of dripping water.  It sounded like it was raining on the other side.

            Sam aimed his flashlight at the sheet of water.  It was useless.  The smooth sheet of water reflected the light back at them like a mirror, successfully obstructed any view into the room.  They would have to enter it blindly.  _This is amazing_, thought Lara.  _The construction of this temple must have been one of the greatest achievements in the history of the Maya._  She had to know what was in that room.  Lara took a deep breath and stepped through the waterfall.  Sam followed her.  As they stepped through, the water parted around them like a curtain, and then closed behind them.  Despite the fact that only a thin layer of water blocked them from retreating to the tunnel, Lara felt as though she had been sealed in a tomb.

            Inside the room, water dripped onto their heads like rain.  Sam aimed his flashlight around, but it didn't help much.  There was something on the other side of the room that reflected the light, but they couldn't tell what it was.  The flashlight did not provide enough illumination.

            Lara reached into her pack and withdrew three flares.  She lit them all at once and threw each one to a different part of the room.  And gasped.

            Lara had been to dozens of tombs and temples and palaces in her travels.  Most were crumbling, dilapidated structures.  Some held traces of their former glory.  Others were stripped bare.  A very few retained the beauty that they had had when they had still been in use.  This was one of those temples.

            It was the altar room of the Temple of Chac.  Here, the priests and nobles had placed their offerings to the great god that gave their people the water with which to live.  It was an altar fit for a god.

            Lara and Sam stood on a small square projection of stone, covered in a couple of centimeters of water.  The room itself was spherical, about thirty meters in diameter.  The projection of stone that they stood on was at the outside edge of the sphere.  It extended for a couple of meters, and then dropped off into a pool of sparklingly clear water that filled the lower half of the sphere.  But the most incredible thing about the room was that the wall was solid gold.  The inside of the sphere was completely covered with gold.

            The gold had been worked into designs and hieroglyphics.  Ancient torch holders that had been used to light this room a thousand years earlier were golden protrusions on the walls.  Golden likenesses of gods bulged from the sides of the wall.  Reliefs of great rulers and special symbols were all carved into the wall, all gold.  And then there was the water.

            While the gold in the lower hemisphere of the room shimmered and wavered beneath the rippling surface of the pool, the upper hemisphere shimmered behind a constant shower of water.  Small pores and crevices in the golden wall let water seep into the room from the underground river beyond.  Water trickled down the surface of the golden glyphs, gushed across the reliefs of high priests, cascaded over the faces of the gods.  The coating of water made the gold itself appear to be flowing and rippling.  And, as would be fitting for the altar of the god of rain, there was an unending downpour.

            The bumps and ridges in the gold made the water drip from the roof, causing it to rain ceaselessly within the room.  The pool's surface churned in the never-ending shower.  All of the movement, all of the activity made the room itself seem alive.  The light of the flares was reflected by the gold, by the ripples, by the rain, reflected a thousand times over.  The room glowed with golden light.  It was the perfect backdrop for the beautiful offerings that had been left here for the enjoyment of Chac.

            Submersed in the pool were hundreds of artifacts, decorated with precious metals and stones.  There were statues cast in gold, jewelry covered with diamonds, sapphires, and rubies, and tools and weapons made of silver.  But dominating over everything in the pool was the altar itself.

            It rose from the very center of the pool, nearly three meters square and fifteen meters high.  It came to within half a centimeter of the surface of the pool, not quite breaking it.  It was made of white marble.  Centered on the top of the altar was a small golden chest.  The chest was not ornamented.  It was the simplest object in the room.

            Lara knew what was inside of it.

            Lara realized that she and Sam had been staring at the room for several minutes without moving.  She shook herself and got back to the task at hand.  The task of retrieving the Codex of Kinich Ahau's Fury.

            "Wait here, Sam," she said as she slipped off the stone into the pool.

            "Uh, Lara, are you sure this is a good idea?"  Sam was looking around the room nervously.  This was the most amazing thing he had ever seen.  And if the Mayans had had the ingenuity to construct this room, what could they have constructed in the way of traps?

            "Don't worry, Sam," Lara said as she stroked over to the altar.  "I do this kind of thing all the time."

            Lara looked at the treasures laying at the bottom of the pool as she swam over them.  Most of them would be worth an entire expedition alone.  Yet she was ignoring all of them for the codex that she knew lay inside of the chest on the altar.  It was amazing that among all of these gems, all of this gold, the most valuable thing in the room was a piece of paper.

            Lara pulled herself onto the altar.  Here, the water just barely kept the marble pillar submerged.  The chest was the only thing in the room that was not under water.  She knelt in front of it.

            Looking down at the marble top of the pillar, Lara saw a few hieroglyphics carved into it.

            "What are you looking at?" called Sam.

            "There are some glyphs on the altar."

            "What do they say?"

            Lara studied them.  "They say... they say, 'This chest is an offering to Chac, the great magnificent god who gives us life.  Any mortal who touches this chest shall perish by his hand.'"

            "Nice."

            "Well, that's what it says."

            "Are you going to touch it?"

            "I have to if we want to see the codex."

            "My life insurance doesn't cover death by divine punishment."

            "Stop being negative."

            "Sorry, I just get cranky when a spiritual entity threatens my life."

            "Look on the bright side.  If we die, we'll never have to go to another airport again."

            "What the hell does that have to do with anything?"

            "Never mind."

            Lara bent over the chest.  She ran her fingers all around it, looking for tripwires or hidden switches.  She found none.  Taking a deep breath, she gripped the handles on the sides of the chest.  She waited.

            Nothing happened.

            "So much for divine annihilation," she said happily.  She pulled on the chest.  It didn't budge.  She set her feet and tugged again.  It didn't move.

            _This is heavier than it looks_, Lara thought.  The chest was solid gold.  It weighed nearly a hundred pounds.

            "Do you need some help?" asked Sam, getting ready to jump in and swim out to her.

            "No, let me try again," Lara said. She crouched low, gripped the handles tightly, and took a deep breath.  The she pulled, straining every muscle in her body to move the chest.  She heard a scraping noise.  She was moving it.  She poured all of her strength into it.  The scraping noise continued.  She grunted, still pulling on the chest.  It was getting easier to move.  It must have been stuck from sitting in one spot for a millennium.  Suddenly, it was free.

            Lara staggered back with the chest in her arms.  She just managed to stop herself from falling off the altar.  She slumped, exhausted, the crushing weight of the chest in her arms.  As she caught her breath, she thought she heard someone shouting.

            "Lara, what the hell did you do?" cried Sam.  Lara spun around just in time to see a stone slab half a meter thick fall across the opening through which she and Sam had entered the room.

            _How could I have not noticed that slab hanging above the threshold?_ she thought angrily.  _That's what you get for gawking at the scenery, fool girl_, she chastised herself.  She looked back down at the altar.  Where the chest had been setting was a small circle of stone that protruded from the marble.  A weight switch.  By removing the chest she had triggered the closing of the door.

            "What made that door close?" Sam asked her.

            "There was a switch beneath the chest.  I set it off by removing it."

            "Why the hell would they set something up to do that?"

            "A last-ditch effort to keep the codex safe.  If someone managed to get to this room, then he would be trapped here, unable to perform the ritual at the Temple of Kinich Ahau."

            "Great.  Now what do we do?"

            Lara thought of the item in her backpack that she had brought along in case the hole in the tunnel entrance had not been big enough for her to get through.  But she decided against using it.  It couldn't break through half a meter of stone.  More likely, it would bring the roof down on their heads.

            "I guess we wait.  Alex's men should make it here sometime tomorrow.  They can get us out."  Lara grimaced at the prospect of Alex saving her life.  But beggars can't be choosers.

            "Well I've got some bad news for you, Lara.  We won't be alive by the time they get here.  Look around you."

            Lara did.  And saw what he meant.

            When she had stepped onto the altar, the water over it had only been half a centimeter deep.  Now it was four centimeters deep.  The room was filling with water.

            "Okay, we have a problem.  Got any ideas?"

            Sam looked around the room, then back at her.  "No."

            Lara sighed.  _Well, at least the room is filling slowly.  We have time to figure something—_

            Without warning, a hole ten centimeters across opened in the center of the altar and water gushed out of it, flying nearly to the ceiling of the room before pouring back down.

            "Shit!" shouted Sam.  Lara fell backwards, landing half in the water.  She struggled to right herself without dropping the chest into the pool.  If she did, she would never be able to get it back out.  It was too heavy.

            Seeing Lara's predicament, Sam dived into the pool and swam out to her.  He pulled the chest from her arms and set it on the altar, then pulled Lara onto it as well.

            Water from the new fountain drenched them.  The noise of all of that water in the small room was almost deafening.

            Lara managed to sit up.  In seconds, the water had gone up another dozen centimeters.  In little over a minute, it would be over their heads.  Lara knew she could stay afloat, but not if she wanted to hold onto the chest.  It would weigh her down.

            "Quick, help me open it," Lara commanded Sam, shouting to be heard over the thundering water.  He gave her a look that made it obvious that he had some serious doubts about her sanity, but he knelt down to help her.

            The chest had a set of double doors built into it.  However, there was no latch, no keyhole, no handle, nothing that could help them open it.

            Sam reached into a pocket in his wetsuit and pulled out a Swiss army knife.  He jammed the thinnest blade into the crack and tried to lever the door of the chest open.  It didn't budge.

            Lara pounded on the chest with frustration.  She and Sam were still kneeling down, and the water was up to their chins.  They would have to stand up and hold onto the chest while trying to pry it open with a small Swiss army knife blade.  Impossible.  There was just one other course of action left.

            Lara thrust the chest into Sam's arms and stood up.

            "Stand up," she ordered Sam.  He stood up.

            "Hold the chest out in front of you."  He did as she asked.

            Lara drew her guns.  "Now stand still," she said, aiming them at the chest doors.

            "Whoa, whoa, whoa.  Now just hold on a damn second.  What do you think you're doing?"

            "I'm going to try to blast open the doors.  Now hold still."

            "Don't you think this is a little dangerous?"

            "No, the doors are thick enough that they should protect the codex from damage.  Now stop moving around or I'll end up shooting you."

            "Duh!" Sam shouted.  "Do you think I'm crazy?  Here, you hold the chest, and I'll shoot at it."

            "Yeah, right.  I might get shot.  Don't move."

            Lara's guns blazed, sending bullets to ricochet off the chest doors.  When her magazines were empty, Lara studied the damage.  The doors had been severely bent.

            Realizing that Lara had stopped shooting, Sam opened his eyes.  _This woman is insane_, he thought, _but at least she knows what she's doing._  He looked at the water.  It had risen past his stomach.  It would be over his head in a few seconds if he didn't let go of this chest.  He began pulling at the damaged doors with Lara.

            The doors squeaked and screeched, but did not open.  The water was up to their necks now.  The golden likenesses of gods and rulers were slipping beneath the water's raging surface.  Soon they would, too.

            Sam raised the chest to keep it above the water.  He pounded on the doors with his fists.  He could feel them giving way.  The water was covering his nose when the doors came off in his hands and a piece of parchment fell out.

            Lara snatched it before it fell into the pool.  She jammed the folded piece of paper into her waterproof pack of flares, cringing at the thought of the damage she was subjecting the codex to.  A paper that old could disintegrate with the slightest touch.  If she had ruined it she would never forgive herself.

            _Of course, if we drown in here, I won't have to worry about it_, she thought grimly.  Sam had let the chest fall to the bottom of the pool and they were now both floating in the water.  As the water rose and the room narrowed, the water level climbed even faster.  The room would be full of water in minutes.

            "This doesn't make sense," Sam sputtered as he treaded water.

            "Which part?" Lara growled back.

            "This room.  It can't just keep filling up with water.  There's too much air trapped in here."

            Lara blinked.  He was right.  The room was over three quarters full now.  All of the air in the room should be trapped up in this small space.  The water shouldn't be able to continue pouring in because the built up air pressure would keep it at bay.  Yet water _was_ still coming in.  Which meant that the air was escaping somehow.

            _And if the _air _can escape..._, thought Lara.  She studied the room's ceiling more carefully now.  There had to be some sort of vent that was letting the air get outside.  She spotted it.  At the very top of the spherical room was a grate.  The crafty Mayans had decorated it to look like just another relief of a high priest, but behind his golden outline was a small tunnel leading up.  The air was whistling through the grate's holes.

            _Ingenious_, thought Lara as the water continued it's lethal climb.  _The Mayans understood the principals of air pressure, so they left a passage for the air to escape, but put enough metal between the tunnel and the room so no one could break through.  No one who wasn't packing heat, that is._

            "Sam, I'm going to try to blow open this grate," Lara shouted.  "Cover your head.  You don't want any ricochets to give you new body cavities."

            "Trying to shoot our way through again?" Sam asked as he stroked closer to her.  "Great idea, considering how well it worked last time.  If this thing doesn't bust apart immediately, we're not going to have time pry it open."

            Looking around, Lara saw that he was right.  They were only a few meters from the ceiling, and since the room narrowed as it got closer to the top, the water level was rising very quickly.  They had less than a minute to escape.  Once again she decided against using the item she had packed for this sort of emergency.  They were too close to the grate to avoid its blast.  She would have to use her pistols.

            "Cross your fingers," she muttered as she took aim at the grate.  She pulled the triggers.  Nothing happened.

            Lara stared dumbly at her pistols for a moment.  What was wrong?  Surely the water hadn't kept them from firing.  Then with a flash of realization Lara knew why they hadn't fired.  She hadn't reloaded them after taking out the chest doors.

            Lara fumbled with her pack.  They were now only two meters below the grate.  The chance of them getting hit by ricochets was extremely high now.  She had dug through her pack so many times now that she knew where every item in it was by heart, but with the prospect of drowning so real, she couldn't seem to find her spare magazines.  _Come on, where are you?_  Her teeth were clenched and bared.  That wonderful flood of adrenaline ravaged her body.  Her hands closed around a pair of magazines.  She ripped them from her pack, ejected the spent magazines from her pistols, slammed the new ones home, and opened fire on the grate.

            The echoes were so loud that it sounded like an army was letting out a barrage of machine gun fire.  Lara could feel the wind of ricocheting bullets buzzing past her face as she attempted to obliterate the golden barrier.  The gold of the grate was thinner and less hard than that of the chest.  The metal was mangled where the bullets struck it, twisting it and breaking it.  Lara concentrated her firepower on a small area.  It only had to be big enough for her and Sam to get through.  She never let up on the triggers.

            After a few seconds that had seemed like an eternity, the guns fired on empty chambers.  She was out of ammo.  She checked Sam.  He hadn't been hit.  Then she assessed the grate problem.  It was a mangled mess, but it still held.  The water was so high now that she could reach out and touch it.  She did.  And pulled.

            It didn't budge.

            The water was going to be over their heads in less than ten seconds.  Lara should have taken last night as warning.  She had almost drowned, and a day later had jumped right back into the cenote.  What stupidity.  She had been dealt a bad hand, and her bluff had been called.  _I've always known that if I kept living my life on the flip of a coin, eventually it would come up tails.  But I am not ready._

            She was not ready.  And she wasn't going to quit.

            She flipped her body so her feet pressed against the ceiling and pulled on the golden bars with every ounce of strength in her body.  She felt the cords and tendons in her body strain to the breaking point.  She felt the grate begin to give.  She let go and flipped upright again to grab a breath before pulling some more.  She surfaced and discovered there were only a few centimeters of air between the grate and the water now, and they would be gone in a moment.  She breathed deeply (_Will this be my last breath?_), spun upside down in the water again, felt Sam beside her pulling on the grate, braced her body against the ceiling, gripped the grate herself, and pulled.

            Lara's life had been in danger many times.  She had never had her life flash before her eyes, but when she was on the verge of death, a memory would sometimes surface in her mind.  Now, Lara remembered the yak.

                                                            *            *            *

            Lara had spent the last eleven years of her life proving to herself that she was a fighter.  When she had been a twenty-one year old debutante in high English society, she hadn't known what kind of determination it took to keep trying, keep striving through pain and fear in the face of death.  All that had changed the day her plane had crashed.  She had been returning from a ski trip, but instead she had been jerked into the worst nightmare of her life.

            She had been the sole survivor.  There had been no one to help her.  No one to tell her what to do, or how to do it.  She had only her body and her wits.  And for a girl who had never been allowed to use either one all her life, that meant she had nothing.

            She had wandered around the wreckage in the blowing snow for the entire first day, trying to find a way to convince herself that this wasn't happening, not to her.  She was Lara Croft, daughter of Lord Henshingly Croft, and he would not stand for this.

            But her father was not there.

            That night, Lara had huddled under a piece of the plane fuselage.  She was crying.  She had no blankets to warm herself with, she had no food to eat, and she didn't know what to do.

            As Lara stared blankly into the dark, stormy sky, snow catching in her lashes, her body bruised and bleeding from her injuries, she had thought, _It's over.  I'm going to die.  No one is going to save me._

            And suddenly, Lara realized that she wasn't alone.  There was an animal out there, moving through the snow.  For a moment she was frozen in horror.  She saw the giant hairy brute and all of the childhood fears of monsters and demons flooded her mind, paralyzing her with fear.  Then the rational part of her mind had started functioning again, and she recognized the animal for what it really was.  A yak.

            Lara got up and staggered closer to it.  When she could see it better, she was horrified.

            The yak is the mule of the Himalayas.  They look like buffalo, with long horns and giant shaggy bodies.  They had been domesticated by man, and were used as pack animals.  There was something almost noble about a yak.  Their huge bodies seemed to be indestructible.  But this one had gotten lost.  Perhaps it had wandered away from its farm in a snowstorm, or maybe its owner had been riding it, and had died, leaving the animal on its own.  It didn't matter.  It was alone now.  And dying.  The once proud and magnificent beast was starving.  The animal's shaggy hair hung limply from its body, its ribs protruding from its side.  It hadn't eaten in a week.  And by another bad bit of luck, it had been here when the plane had crashed.  A piece of the plane had flown threw the air, slicing through the Yak's back.  Now, unable to move the rear half of its body, and nearly cut in half, the Yak was on the brink of death.

            _Oh, poor yak_, Lara had thought, _you're lost and alone too.  The world has dealt us both an evil twist of fate.  It's so unfair.  I'm sorry we're going to die, yak.  We're both in so much pain.  We've been through too much.  Now you're ready to give up and die, like me._

            But the yak had not been ready to give up and die.  As Lara watched, astonished, the yak dug in with its front feet and pulled itself forward, its rear half dragging on the ground behind it, leaving a bloody trail in the snow.  And as Lara's eyes followed the trail, she saw that it stretched over a hundred meters.

            _I've spent this whole day wandering around this wreckage in circles_, she had thought,_ getting myself ready to die, while this yak, with its body torn almost in half, has been moving forward, trying to make it home._

            She continued to watch, fascinated.  The yak kept putting its front feet forward, digging in and pulling itself along.  The misty breath that escaped form its nostrils was tinged red with blood.  It made the most pitiful sounds Lara had ever heard, and she knew that its pain must be incredible.  But it kept moving.  It kept moving.  Another hour passed.  Two.  Three.  Lara watched as the beast managed to attain another fifty meters, fifty meters in which it could have given up, fifty meters in which it could have dropped from the pain, _fifty meters in which it had gotten closer to home,_ and then collapsed.  Dead.

            Lara sat staring at it.  The last eight hours of its life had been the most painful of its life.  It had given its all, had refused to give up until death took it, and for its efforts, it had left a 150 meter trail of blood.

            _What was the point? _Lara wondered as she continued to stare at the giant form of the yak and its crimson trail.  _What was the point of all of that struggling?  The days of starvation, the nights of cold, the hours of pain?  All that was left was a bloody trail._

            The point, she realized, was not where the yak had gotten, but where it _might_ have gotten.  The yak had thought it was going to die.  The yak had not believed it would get home.  But if it _could_ have gotten home, _could_ have lived, if there was a chance, the slightest chance, then any struggle was worth it.

            Lara had done nothing to get home.  She had no blankets to warm herself with because she hadn't pulled any from the wreckage.  She had no food to eat because she hadn't looked for any.  She didn't know what to do because she hadn't tried to think of anything.

            The yak had kept going till its dying breath.  Lara would, too.

            She would save herself.

            She would stop crying over how unfair and how wrong this all was, and start doing things.  She would search for food, find warmer clothes, make tools she might need.  She was going to be as strong as the yak.  She was going to keep moving until she made it home or died trying.  She was a fighter.  She was not ready to die.

            She was Lara Croft, and _she_ would not stand for this.

            And it had not been as easy as that.  When she had been walking for a week, had gone hungry more days than she had eaten, she had wanted to give up.  She had wanted to be weak.  But she remembered the yak, and kept going.

            And when she had been trudging through snow for twelve days, and her feet were covered with blisters, and each step was another burst of agony, she had thought, _Wouldn't be nice to rest for just a little while?_ knowing that if she stopped, she would never be able to start again.  But she remembered the yak, and with every painful step she took she renewed her resolve.

            And, at the end, when she had been reduced to crawling, pulling her body forward like the yak, she had wanted so badly to die, for it to be over, to just stop the hurt and the pain.  But she had kept going, because she remembered her family.  She remembered her home.  She remembered her life.  She didn't really want to die.  She was not ready.  _She was not ready._

                                                            *            *            *

            _I AM NOT READY!_ Lara's mind screamed.  The grate ripped open.  She pulled herself up into the hole.  She needed air.  Now.  The water had risen well up into the tunnel.  She clawed her way toward the surface.  All of a sudden she was jerked to a stop.  Her shorts had gotten hooked on a piece of metal where the grating had broken off.  She reached down and tried to pull the piece of metal off.  Her struggles only got her further entangled.  _Please come off!_ she though desperately.

            A hand tore hers away from the snag.  She looked down and saw Sam.  He reached up with his other hand and used his Swiss army knife to cut her free.  Lara shot upwards.  Her head came out of the water.  She breathed again.  Sam broke the surface next to her, gasping for air.

            "So," Sam said between pants, "do you ever get tired of doing things the hard way, or do you feel unsatisfied if you don't narrowly escape death every ten minutes?"

            "Oh, no.  I've been known to go several days without almost dying."

            "Gee, you need to start taking more risks.  Stop living so comfortably."

            Lara grinned.  Having a sense of humor was necessary when you lived like this.  Sometimes laughter was the only escape.

            Sam aimed his flashlight up the tunnel.  Lara could just make out the top of it, about five meters up.  The water was rising a meter every five seconds or so in this narrow tunnel.  They would be out in no time.  But where exactly 'out' was, she couldn't be sure.

            As the terror she had felt in the water died down, Lara luxuriated in the nervous energy left behind by the adrenaline her body had dumped into her system.  A by-product of her survivalist lifestyle, she had learned to enjoy the rushes.  She never felt more alive than when she was pumped full of that hormone.

            The water reached the top of the short tunnel and gushed up over its sides.  Lara and Sam climbed out.  Now they were in another tunnel, perpendicular to the last one.  The walls were limestone, carved out by years of erosion.  The low dirt ceiling was soft, and roots hung from it.  _We have to be near the surface_, Lara thought.  _The hill isn't very tall._

            Sam shone his flashlight beam in both directions.  They couldn't see the end of the tunnel in either direction.

            "I'm freezing," said Sam as the water continued to pour out of the tunnel.  "We need to get out of here.  Now."

            "Hang on," muttered Lara as she tried to think.  "The water is still pouring in, so there still has to be an exit for the air.  We need to find it."

            "But what could it be?  We've studied every inch of this hill from the outside.  If there were a cave or a tunnel leading into these caverns, we would have found it."

            "Still, there has to be a way out.  And we need to find it fast.  The water will wear away at the tunnel walls.  They'll collapse onto us.  Hang on, I have something we can use."

            Lara reached into her pack and pulled out two balls of yarn.

            Now Sam was certain she had gone mad.  "Uh, Lara, I know I said I was cold, but I don't think that this would be a good time to knit me a sweater."

            Lara tossed him one of the balls.  "These passages might branch.  Tie one end to a rock here.  Unravel as you go.  I'll do the same thing down this tunnel.  If you find an exit, tie off your string there, follow your string back here, and then follow my string to me.  Then we'll follow the yarn back out."

            "Oh.  Uh, good idea."

            Lara found a good-sized rock and tied one end of her ball of yarn to it.  Then she lit a flare and took off down the tunnel.

            Lara was right.  The tunnels did branch.  The passages were winding, so as to make the most use of the ground under the hill.  Whenever Lara came to a dead end, she backtracked and took a different route.  Her ball of yarn slowly grew smaller and smaller.

            _We're running out of time_, thought Lara, as she watched the knee-deep water carve a large piece of limestone rock out of the wall.  Fissures began opening up in the floor of the tunnel, through which even more water gushed up.  They had unleashed an underground river, and it was forcing itself to the surface.  Soon the whole place would cave in.  She started moving faster.

            Lara ran around a corner, only to find nothing under her feet.  The water had carved out a section of the tunnel's stone floor.  The hole was only a foot deep, but that was enough to make her stumble.  She fell against the tunnel wall.  Her head struck a rock protruding out from it.  She slumped against the wall and slid to the floor.  Her body settled into a sitting position, her head only a few centimeters above the rising water.  She was out cold.

                                                            *            *            *

            "LARA."

            "Hmmmm?"

            "WAKE UP, LARA CROFT."

            "Who are you?"

            "I AM CHAC."

            Lara woke up.  She could not believe what she saw.

            Lara was floating in the air, totally naked.  Not just without clothes, but without a body.  She was a soul.  She could not see the ground.  She could not see the sky, either.  It was raining, but like no rain on earth.  The rain came from every direction.  And the rain was colored.  It was white, red, yellow, black, and green.  The raindrops would hit each other and merge, flying off in a new direction as a different color.  Lara's skin (_Skin?  I don't even have a body..._) was pelted with the rain, but it didn't hurt.  She didn't feel anything.  And she wasn't afraid, either.

            "Chac?" Lara murmured, idly wondering how she could murmur without lips or vocal chords.  "Sorry I ruined your temple.  You really need to have that leak fixed."

            "LARA.  I NEED YOUR HELP."

            _So what else is new?_ Lara thought, amused.  She liked Chac's voice.  In it was the crash of thunder, the patter of rain, the shriek of wind.  It was insistent, but not demanding.  Strong, but gentle.  Like he knew that if he were not careful, his power might crush this fragile little soul he was holding.

            "What do you need me to do, Chac?"

            "I NEED YOU TO DESTROY THE CODEX OF KINICH AHAU'S FURY."

            Lara should have been horrified by the suggestion of damaging such a priceless piece of history, but the best she could muster up was a slight discontent.

            "That codex needs to be studied, Chac.  It needs to be placed in a museum.  The information on that codex could explain some of the mysteries of the Mayan people."

            "THE INFORMATION ON THAT CODEX COULD DESTROY THE EARTH.  IF THE RITUAL ON THE CODEX IS PERFORMED, I WILL BE BANISHED TO THE UNDERWORLD FOR ETERNITY, AND KINICH AHAU'S FIERY GLARE WILL SCORCH THE EARTH FOREVER."

            "If the codex is that terrible, why can't you destroy it?" Lara murmured.  The longer she stayed here in this spiritual realm, the less she cared about the earthly world.  She tried to wonder how Sam was doing, but she couldn't focus her thoughts on something that unimportant.  It seemed so trivial now...

            "I CAN NOT DESTROY THE CODEX MYSELF.  IT WAS INSPIRED BY A GOD, AND A GOD CAN NOT UNMAKE WHAT ANOTHER GOD HAS MADE.  ONLY A HUMAN CAN DESTROY THE CODEX.  THE MAYAN PEOPLE ARE TOO AFRAID OF KINICH AHAU TO DESTROY IT.  YOU MUST DO IT FOR THEM."

            Lara wasn't really listening to Chac anymore.  She was having trouble remembering what her body was like.  She had a vague recollection that her body could feel things, things like pain and pleasure.  That must have been so annoying.  This nothingness was much more soothing.

            Lara forced herself to pay attention.  Something Chac had said didn't make sense.  "Chac, why would anyone want to use the codex?  If the sun ruled the earth, everyone would die, including the user."

            "THE EVIL IN SOME MEN'S HEARTS DRIVES THEM TO DO SENSELESS THINGS.  RIGHT NOW, THERE ARE MEN WHO ARE TRYING TO OBTAIN THE CODEX.  MOST OF THEM DO NOT REALIZE THE TRUE POWER OF THE CODEX, BUT ONE OF THEM DOES.  AND HE INTENDS TO USE IT."

            "Can you stop them?"

            "I AM TRYING.  KINICH AHAU HAS BROUGHT A TERRIBLE DROUGHT TO THE YUCATAN, TRYING TO KEEP ME AWAY FROM THESE MEN LONG ENOUGH FOR THEM TO USE THE CODEX.  BUT HE FORGETS THAT WHEN HE HEATS THE LAND, HE ALSO HEATS THE OCEAN.  AND IT IS FROM THE WARM OCEAN'S WATER THAT I GAIN MY GREATEST POWER.  ONCE BEFORE, I MANAGED TO DEFEAT MEN WHO WISHED TO USE THE CODEX.  I DESTROYED THE ARMIES OF THE CHOL MAYA WITH MY HURRICANE, AND LED THE YUCATAN MAYA TO VICTORY.  I WILL DO THE SAME AGAIN, IF I AM NOT TOO LATE.  BUT EVEN IF I CAN DESTROY THESE MEN, I CANNOT DESTROY THE CODEX.  YOU MUST HELP ME.  NOW RETURN TO YOUR BODY.  YOU MUST MOVE SOON, OR YOU WILL DROWN.

            _My body?_ Lara thought.  _How am I going to find it?_  Then she felt the tug of it, pulling her away from Chac.  She felt herself returning to her world.  She had one more question for Chac, and struggled to remain in this place long enough to ask it.

            "Chac, why me?  Why does it have to be me?" Lara shouted.

            "BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE SPIRIT OF A FIGHTER, AND A NOBLE HEART.  YOU WILL FIGHT FOR WHAT YOU KNOW IS RIGHT.  AND YOU WILL NOT LET YOURSELF LOSE.  THAT IS WHY I HAVE CHOSEN YOU TO BE MY WARRIOR.  NOW GO.

            Lara went.

                                                            *            *            *

            "Lara!"

            "Hmmmm?"

            "Wake up, Lara!"

            "Chac?  I thought I was going back..."

            Lara felt cold.  And wet.  She opened her eyes.  She had eyes.  And her body.  She was back in her body.

            Sam was standing over her, shaking her.  "Lara, are you all right?  What happened?"

            Lara's head was throbbing.  She put her hand to her temple and felt a lump growing there.  She looked about.

            "I was running.  I fell and hit my head.  I must have been unconscious."  Unconscious.  Head trauma.  That would explain her weird dream.  It had to have been a dream, hadn't it?

            "Lucky for you I got here when I did.  Your nose was about to go under water."

            Lara shook her head, trying to get things to make sense.  Chac had been a dream.  He must have been.  Anyway, that wasn't the important thing right now.  The important thing was getting out of here alive.

            "Did you find a way out?" Lara asked.  If he hadn't, they were as good as dead.  The water was over there waists, now.

            "Uh, yeah.  Sort of.  It's not going to help us much, but it's our only chance.  Come on, I'll show you."

            He extended a hand to help steady Lara, but she shook her head.  She could make it by herself.

            Sam plowed through the water ahead of her, following his piece of yarn and lighting their way with his flashlight.

            The water rose steadily, and the higher it went, the slower they moved.  The dirt ceiling had turned to mud, and the limestone walls were being chiseled out by the water, making them thinner and weaker.  As they passed tunnel intersections, Lara saw that some of the tunnels had already caved in.  It was only a matter of time before the entire cavern collapsed.

            The water crept up past Lara's chest.  Lara peered into the gloom ahead of Sam.  She couldn't see any sign of the exit he had found.  If it were much farther, they wouldn't get there in time.

            Sam rounded a corner ahead of her and said, "Here it is."  He didn't sound too excited.  That worried Lara.

            She saw why when she turned the corner.  The 'exit' was a hole in the tunnel wall about twenty centimeters in diameter.  She could see dim light from the night sky coming from the small hole.

            "It's about two meters from the surface," Sam said as Lara studied the hole.  "Although it might as well be two kilometers for all the good that a hole that small will do us.  These Mayans didn't intend for anyone to got out of here alive."

            "But how could you not have noticed hole like this in the hillside?" Lara asked puzzled.  "There have to be more of them.  Why didn't you—"  Suddenly it dawned on her.  "The gopher holes!  They were really air outlets!  How ingenious!  These ancient civilizations always had a knack for hiding things out in the open."

            "That's great Lara, but let's talk about the awe-inspiring ingenuity of ancient cultures some other time.  Right now, the only thing I'm interested in is whether or not you have any ideas about how to widen that hole enough for us to get out of here before we drown or are crushed."

            "Why, yes actually, I do," Lara said, smiling.  "I brought something along in case I needed to use brute force to get into the temple.  I didn't think I would need it to get out of the temple, but it will work just as well for that."

            "What is it?" Sam asked suspiciously.

            "Just get back," Lara answered.  She reached into her pack.  _This is a bad idea...  The explosion is going to bring the whole tunnel down.  But it's our only chance._

            She pulled the grenade she had brought with her out of the pack.  She positioned herself so she could get away as quickly as possible.  _We're only going to have one shot at this_, she thought.  Taking a deep breath, she pulled the pin from the grenade.  She quickly tossed the grenade as far into the 'gopher hole' as she could, and then struggled to get away.  The water was nearly up to her neck now, which made fast movement extremely difficult.  She only made it four meters before the grenade exploded.

            Mud, dirt, and water filled the air.  Even after the debris from the explosion had all settled, dirt continued to fall from the ceiling, which was caving in.  Lara turned back to the hole, calling Sam.

            "Sam, where are you?  We have to hurry!" Lara shouted.

            "No kidding," Sam muttered.  Lara finally saw him, moving in her direction.  "Do you always carry high explosives around with you, or are you putting on a special show just for me?"

            "I just try to be prepared for everything," Lara said with a grin.

            Her grin widened when they reached the hole.  It was now a large crater.  Lara could see the night sky through a hole that would easily allow her and Sam to escape this underground deathtrap.

            Lara climbed into the cavity her grenade had made and scrambled up to the surface.  The star-studded sky stretched away to the horizon.  She gazed at it as she pulled her dripping, muddy body out of the pit.  She took a deep breath of the night air.  There was nothing more exhilarating than knowing you had just narrowly escaped death and were safe once again.  The feeling empowered her.

            She could see the stele and building foundations a little farther up the hill.  She wondered if the Mayans who had lived in this town hundreds of years ago had known what all of these little holes were really for, or if they had just believed them to be gopher burrows as well.  Had they known about the secret carved in the rock beneath them, or had even they wondered where this mysterious temple was hidden?  So many questions for which answers would never be found.

            Sam pulled himself out of the hole and sat next to her.  For the first time, Lara really studied him.  When she had met him at the dig, she had judged him to be just another archaeologist who dug up broken pots for a living and had ignored him.  While they were in the temple, Lara had been too preoccupied to spare him more than a few passing thoughts.  Now she realized that she had been mistaken about him.  Sam had broken the rules set by his superiors at the museum and taken his life in his hands when he decided to search the temple on his own.  And when death had been close at hand, he had not shrunk from it in fear.  He had forced himself through the dangers, and had lived to tell about it.  And he had done it so calmly that Lara knew that it wasn't the first time that he had.  As she looked at the tall, dark haired man, she realized that she had several unanswered questions about him.

            "Sam, what sort of digs have you been on in the past?"

            Sam looked at her, grinning, his wet hair falling over his eyes.  "We've been out of danger for half a minute, and you're already over it and starting to ask questions?"  He chuckled.  "I've been on excavations all over the world, Lara.  Digging things up is my life.  Why do you ask?"

            "Because you aren't terrified in perilous situations.  Because you decided to go against your orders to see the temple.  Because you are obviously more than a mere shovel-wielding archaeologist.  You're an adventurer and explorer as well.  Now, what have you been doing that has trained you so well?"

            "Oh, Lara, I just work for the British Museum of Anthropology, that's all.  I just excavate dusty old artifacts.  And, sometimes, when an excavation isn't going well, or if we get a clue or an idea that our superiors believe is too dangerous to follow up, I do a little work on my own to help the expedition out, that's all."  Sam laughed.  "Nothing compared to your adventures."

            "So you just do the dirty work for sponsored archaeological digs?  Why don't you go out on your own expeditions?  Have some real fun?"

            "I've read some of your books, Lara.  If half the stuff that you write about your explorations is true, I don't think I could survive much 'fun.'"

            "Actually, only about half the stuff in my books _is_ true.  If I wrote the whole truth, no one would ever believe me."

            "In that case, I don't think I want to know the whole truth of your adventures."

            _No, you probably don't_, Lara thought.  Telling the truth about some of her expeditions would probably be seen as good cause to lock her up in an asylum.  She almost laughed as she thought of how little truth she had put in her journal about her search for the Dagger of Xian.  She had had to make up practically everything, or be forced to write about the floating islands and—

            Lara abruptly lost her train of thought.  She was not sure what had just startled her, but she didn't like it.  She reached for her case of flares and withdrew one, careful not to damage the codex.  She lit the flare and stood up.

            Sam watched her looking around warily.  "Is something wrong?" he asked.

            "I'm not sure.  It's just that a moment ago I thought I... I felt something."

            "Felt what?"

            "I—"  And then she felt it again.  A slight tremor in the ground.  By the way Sam quickly jumped up, she knew that he had felt it, too.

            "What is it?  You think it's an earthquake?" Sam asked.

            "No…" Lara mumbled.  Not an earthquake.  The whole hillside was trembling slightly.  She then realized that the whole hillside was wet.  The water from the spring they had opened was seeping out of the earth, causing the dry brown grass to glisten in the starlight.  She looked at the crater they had just climbed out of.  It was now filled to the brim with water.

            "Oh, no," said Sam, as he realized at the same time as Lara what was happening.

            Lara spun around and started racing down the hill.  She heard Sam pounding down the hillside next to her.  _How could we have forgotten?_ Lara asked herself angrily.__

            The limestone and dirt of the tunnels had been eroding so quickly when they had been trying to escape.  The water had continued to eat away at the interior of the hillside after they had gotten out.  Now, there was nothing left to support the ground above it.  As Lara and Sam sprinted away from the hilltop, it began to collapse.

_                                                            *            *            *_

A millennium earlier, the Mayans had built the Temple of Chac to honor the god whom they considered to be the most important for their continued existence.  They had intentionally placed it at a location where they knew the mighty underworld rivers that Chac controlled were close to the surface and on the verge of causing a collapse.  The greatest minds of their advanced society devised a method to bottle up the powers of those rivers and delay the imminent destruction of the town of Panichi.

            They had also devised a way to release that river if the Codex of Kinich Ahau's Fury should ever be disturbed.  The protection of the codex was of the highest importance, and nothing, not even the lives of the townspeople of Panichi, could stand in the way of its segregation from mankind.  So they built the temple to be destroyed if there was a danger that the codex might be released.  Soft dirt, weak limestone walls, and numerous cracks for water to travel through made the hill a disaster waiting to happen.  The destruction would be total and catastrophic.

            Even so, the creators of the temple would be relieved to know that there were no people living in the town of Panichi when it was obliterated.  In fact, there were only two people on the entire hill.

                                                            *            *            *

            The hill appeared to invert itself.  Where once there had been a protrusion from the ground, a depression was forming.  The top of the hill, with the ancient foundations and the magnificent stele, was the first thing to go.  The ground just seemed to turn into liquid, and the final remains of the town of Panichi, and the stele with its testimony to the greatness of Chac and the Yucatan Maya, slid into the earth and disappeared.  Then the destruction spread out like the ripples from a pebble tossed into water.

            The hillside caved in so quickly it appeared to implode.  The dirt crumbled away, the land dissolved, and mud and water took its place.  Waves of mud spread out from the center of the disintegrating hill and plowed into Lara and Sam, knocking them flat and sending them sliding the rest of the way down the hill.  Above her, earth that Lara had just slid over fell away into the watery void.  She felt a scream escape her lips, but could not here it over the sound of the dying land.  The roar of the rock and dirt falling into that huge pit was deafening.

            They reached the bottom of the hill, and kept sliding for several meters, borne upon a wave of mud, before coming to a stop.  Lara struggled to get to her feet.  It was nearly impossible to stand up when the ground had turned into a mud slick.  Finally maintaining her balance, she looked back at the hill.  And couldn't find it.

            Instead, there was a lake, covering all of the acres where the hill had once been.  The thick muddy waters swirled and churned as the liquid continued to pound against the dirt and rock that had fallen into its depths.  Lara knew that in a few days, the dirt and limestone would settle along the banks of the new lake and pile up.  The forces that had torn apart the hill could not keep a lake of this size wet under the heat of the sun.  The lake would shrink until there was only just a small pond, maybe no bigger than the cenote they had dived into earlier that night.  And this new cenote, fed by the underground river that she had released, would be the last remnant of Panichi.

            Lara heard Sam making his way towards her across the slippery mud.  He managed to reach her, and stood next to her and watched the water calm itself down.  Already, the lake was smaller than it had been, with mud quickly accumulating along its shrinking shore.  

            Lara felt a lump in her throat.  This was her fault.  The town of Panichi and the stele that had saved Mason's excavation had both been lost to the earth.  Lara prayed that the huge golden orb that contained the Mayan treasures was still intact underground.  Maybe that could still be excavated.

            As if reading her mind, Sam said, "I'm sure the altar room is fine.  It's made of solid gold, after all.  In a few months, with the proper tools, we can pull it out of the ground.  It will be one of the greatest discoveries in history."  He put his hand on her shoulder.

            "Thank you," Lara said, smiling at him.  Then she laughed.

            "What?" Sam asked, wanting in on the joke.

            "You look like some mud creature from a bad horror movie," Lara said.

            "Well, you don't look like you're ready to go ballroom dancing yourself," Sam shot back.  Lara looked down at herself and saw that he was right.  Her entire body was covered in a layer of mud.

            Lara's heartbeat was almost back to normal.  With her emotions and thoughts under control, she could now look back at the night more objectively.  She had made some stupid mistakes that had nearly cost them their lives, and lost the town of Panichi.  But on the other hand, she had found the location of the Temple of Chac, and had managed to escape from it with her life, which was an incredible feat in itself.  _The yak would be proud_, she thought to herself.  _I stayed alive, did what I set out to do, and have the codex to show for it._

"The codex!" she shouted frantically.  She now realized that she was no longer carrying her box of flares.  And she had put the codex into the box.

            "You lost it?" cried Sam.  He began turning in circles, looking for it.

            "I took a flare out of my pack just before the hill began to collapse.  I didn't have time to put the box back in my pack before we started running.  I must have dropped it when we were sliding down the hill."  Lara stumbled about in the darkness, looking for her lost box of flares.

            Lara trudged through the mud, searching the ground for any sign of her flare box, knowing it was useless.  _It's probably settling on the bottom of the cenote right now_, she thought.  _How could I drop something so important?  How could I let it be destroyed?_

_            Destroyed..._  Had Chac, a Mayan god, really told her to destroy the codex, or had her vision merely been a dream?  The more she thought about it, the more she believed that it had not been a dream.  Dreams fade as the day goes on, becoming insubstantial, and are usually soon forgotten.  But her dream was not fading.  If anything, it had become clearer to her.  It seemed less a dream and more a... _memory_.

            _But that's crazy_, she thought to herself.  Mayan deities weren't real.  They were stories.  Legends that the high priests used to gain greater power over their people.  Weren't they?  She remembered her words from the day before (_Or is it two days ago now?  What time is it?_) when she had been arguing with Jennie: _...I do like to keep an open mind about such things.  _Was she keeping an open mind?  Or was she trying to deny the truth?

            She was so preoccupied with her inner conflict that she almost missed her flare box.  She had been staring at the ground and all of the sudden it was right there in front of her, nestled beneath a stunted bush.

            Lara let out a cry.  "Sam, I found it!"  Sam, who had been searching in another direction, spun around.

            "I can't believe it!" he shouted back as he made his way toward her.  _Neither can I_, thought Lara.  She stared at the box, not picking it up.  _How amazing that I could have dropped it amid that huge mudslide and that it would end up safe and sound, out in the open, right where I was looking for it.  How impossible._  She wondered again about her vision.  Chac had said he couldn't destroy the codex.  Only a person could.  And here was her flare box, in perfect condition, undamaged by the fierceness of the water.  Had Kinich Ahau protected his possession, moved it where she could find it?  Or was it a remarkable coincidence?

            Lara shook herself.  She didn't have time to be thinking about this right now.  She began to crouch down to pick up the box, but was stopped when a bright light was aimed at her face.  Putting her hands up to block the glare, she straightened.  _We're in trouble_, she thought grimly.

            "Lara?  Sam!  What the hell happened?  What the hell is going on?" Mason demanded.  Lara saw him approaching, along with several other people.  Many other people.  _Everyone in both camps heard the noise the hill made_, she thought._  Facing Mason's people is going to be awful.  But that's not going to be anything compared to facing the other camp.  Alex is not going to be happy with me._

            As the people swarmed Lara and Sam, she heard gasps of astonishment and cries of anger ring out.  She heard a few people sobbing.  Probably the people who had worked for months, carefully scraping away at the ancient foundations, trying to preserve what little was left of the Mayans.

            Lara stood quietly as people angrily shouted questions and accusations at her and Sam.  She knew that any attempt to respond to them would not be heard, and if it were, would not be listened to.  She waited for the shock and confusion to die down.  It took a while.  It was rather shocking and confusing to discover that a hill covering several acres had disappeared while you were asleep.

            When the noise and the emotional tension had fallen as far she figured they would, she said loudly, "Sam and I entered the Temple of Chac."

            Everyone that heard her went silent, and everyone who had not was silenced by their neighbors.  It was a fragile silence, Lara knew, one that could quickly turn into a riot.

            "We swam in and explored it.  It turns out that it was carved from the rock beneath the hill.  Then—"

            The questions and accusations were thrown at them once again.

            "Sam, how could you?" shouted Mason.  "You've jeopardized the contract!  Even if it's wrong, you still—"

            "You worthless, arrogant, self-centered bitch!" screamed Jennie.  "When I'm through with you—"

            "Lara, why?" Juanita asked her, crying.  "You've ruined everything.  Why?"

            "This is unbelievable!" crowed Jeff.  "Think of the press you'll get!  There is money to be made here.  Lara, we need you to—"

            "What was inside the temple?  What did you find?  _What did you find?_"  This demand came from Alex.  Lara was not very surprised that this was what mattered to him more than anything else.  She tried to find the short Mayan man in the crowd, but didn't see him.  That _did _surprise her.  She had thought he would be the first on the scene.

            "Lara..." Mason said.  Lara looked at him.  There was a sadness in his eyes, like he had just had the greatest let down of his life.  Lara couldn't stand to see it.  She looked away.

            "EVERYONE, QUIET!" bellowed Alex.  The talking ceased.  Alex eyes burned into Lara's.  Quietly, carefully, he said, "Lara, what did you find in the temple?"

            Lara's eyes stole a quick glance down at her box of flares, which had gone unnoticed by the mob.  Hastily, she returned her gaze to Alex.  She opened her mouth.  What would she say?  Sam was looking at her.  He hadn't said a word so far.  He was letting her make the call.  The codex belonged to Alex's team.  She needed to tell him about it, and about the other treasures that were still buried.  It was her duty as a respectable archaeologist.  The codex had no powers.  The ritual that was written on it could not stop rain from falling on the world.  There might not even be a ritual written on it!  She hadn't even looked at it yet.  It was a legend.  Nothing more.  A legend.

            _Most legends have some basis in truth._  Jennie had said that.  Lara needed to know how much truth.

            "The temple had already been looted," was what came out of her mouth.  "Perhaps it had once been filled with artifacts, but now it's empty.  After looking around, we started to leave, and we triggered a booby trap that destroyed the hill."

            Alex took the news rather well, as if he had been expecting that answer.  He turned to one of his men and said, "Be sure that the police take her into custody.  I have to go talk to someone."  Then he elbowed his way through the crowd, heading back to his camp.  Lara had a feeling that he was going to talk to his Mayan friend, and that the Mayan would not like what he had to say to him.

            "Lara, you're trying to tell us that a booby trap laid centuries ago somehow caused this entire hill to explode?" asked Mason.

            "Not _ex_plode.  _Im_plode.  An underground river carved out the inside of the hill, causing it to collapse."

            "You expect us to believe that?  And even if it's true, that still doesn't change the fact that you two triggered it.  If we had sent a real team in there, they might not have set it off."

            "Yes, they would have, and they would all have been killed."

            "How do you know that?"

            Because they, too, would have tried to take the chest.  But she couldn't tell him this without saying that there _had_ been treasures down there.  There were still too many people listening.  She just shook her head.  She could not give him an explanation.  Not here.

            Mason sighed, and turned to Sam.  Just like that, he had dismissed her.  Lara knew their friendship was over.

            "Sam, this was the stupidest thing you have ever done.  I don't care how successful you've been in the past on your little crusades.  You will never hold a job in the field of archaeology again.  You'll be lucky if you can get a job teaching history to high school kids after this."

            Then Mason pushed his way through the crowd, heading back to his own camp.  Juanita followed him, wiping away her tears.  Juanita looked back at them for a moment, then hurried after Mason.  Mason did not look back.

            Lara heard the sirens that told her that the police were here, ready to take her and Sam into custody.  She toyed with the idea of making a break for it, but trapped as she was by this mob of people, she would have no chance of escaping.  And she really didn't want to.

            The police forced their way to Sam and Lara.  They stripped her of her weapons and pack, and Sam of his knife and equipment.  She felt the handcuffs encircle her wrists.  Lara did not put up any fight.  Why should she?  She had brought this upon herself.  Even if she were not locked up in jail for the rest of her life, she would never be allowed into academic circles again.  She would never be able to study the ancient world again.  She had lost her greatest joy.

            As she was forced through the crowd toward the waiting police cars, Jennie somehow managed to get next to her, close enough to her that she could whisper into her ear.

            "You are scum," she hissed.  "You have destroyed everything we have worked for.  All of your scholarly interviews, all of your scientific speeches, all of your best-selling books, they were all lies.  You're not an archaeologist.  You're not interested in the rediscovery of ancient cultures and practices.  You are nothing more than a tomb raider.  A thief of ancient treasures.  A defiler of forgotten wisdom.  And one day, you will lie in your own tomb, and no one will care."

            Jennie's words dripped of acid, seared Lara's mind.  Lara could not believe the vehemence with which the woman hissed those words into her ear.  Lara knew now that Jennie considered her lower than the worst of murderers.  For she had not done something as simple as killing a living person.  She had wiped the last traces of the long dead from existence, and what crime could possibly be greater than that?  Could be worse than the destruction of a memory?

            The police forced her on, away from Jennie.  Lara was thankful.  She could not have taken any more of her poisonous words.  Lara's heart ached.  She had let everyone down.  Jennie was right.  If Lara were to die, none of these people would mourn her.

            That last thought made Lara stop in her tracks.  Death.  She had been thinking about death.  Here she was, alive and well, after one of the closest calls of her life, and she was thinking of death.  The yak would be disappointed.  The yak would never have given up.

            Anger flared inside of Lara.  _I'm not going to give up that easily_, she thought.  _I know that Alex is up to something, and I am going to find out what.  If I can prove that Alex was going to do something illegal with those artifacts, then I'll no longer be the bad guy.  And then I can tell Mason about the artifacts still in the altar room.  And about the codex._

_            The codex._  It was still lying in the mud, waiting for someone to pick it up.  As the police shoved her and Sam into the cars, Lara made a decision.

            _I'm going to get away from the police.  I'm going to get the codex back.  After I study it, I'll decide whether or not it is dangerous.  Then, I'm going to find Alex, and make him tell me why he is more worried about treasure than archaeology, and why he needs to have gunmen surrounding his camp.  And who that Mayan man really is._

            The police car started down the road, carrying her and Sam toward the nearest police station.  Lara turned and stared at the lights of the camps until they were out of sight.

            _I'm not a tomb raider, Jennie.  I'm an archaeologist.  And I will prove it to you._

                                                            *            *            *

            Uaxahpu waited patiently for Alex to quit shouting.  He had been raving at him like a lunatic for the past ten minutes.

            "All of that money wasted, Uaxahpu!  Millions of dollars to obtain rights to this dig, and we have nothing to show for it!  Not one artifact!"  Alex was panting now, trying to catch his breath.  Uaxahpu saw murder in his eyes.  And with a man like Alex, that meant that the murder was not far off.

            "Alex—" Uaxahpu started, before being cut off by another of Alex's tirades.  Uaxahpu sighed and waited for him to finish.  When he had, Uaxahpu jumped in quickly, before Alex could start again.

            "Alex, the woman was lying.  I saw her as she was being forced into the police car.  Her eyes had had a defeated look when the police were dragging her away, but she suddenly changed when they put her in the car.  She hasn't given up.  She must have the codex."

            "The police searched her and the man.  Neither of them had it."

            "Then they managed to hide it before they were caught.  Listen, Alex.  I spoke to Kinich Ahau tonight.  He said—"  Alex turned away in disgust as he always did when he believed Uaxahpu was spouting foolishness.  Uaxahpu continued anyway.  "He said that Chac has chosen this woman to be his warrior on earth, has commanded her to destroy the codex.  He also said that she has not done so yet.  So we still have time."

            Alex faced him again.  "I don't believe a word of your crazy Mayan beliefs.  The sun is not a god.  It's giant ball of gas undergoing nuclear fusion.  Why should I believe that the Temple of Kinich Ahau exists?  And even if it does, what makes you think that it has not been looted yet?  I'm a black market artifact dealer, Uaxahpu.  I don't give a damn about rituals.  All I care about is gold, silver, and jewels.  And all of the money I can get for them."

            "But Alex," said Uaxahpu quietly, "if the Temple of Chac exists, why not the Temple of Kinich Ahau?"  Uaxahpu waited for Alex to digest this point of view.

            Alex mulled it over for a moment.  Then he spoke.  "Okay, so the temple itself probably exists.  But it was probably looted centuries ago, like this one."

            "We don't know that this temple was looted, Alex.  We only know what that woman told us."  This stopped Alex for a moment.  Apparently he hadn't considered the possibility that Miss Croft might want to lie to them.  Seeing an opening, Uaxahpu hurried on.  "Very likely, she was lying to us.  Because if the codex was down there, then there were probably other artifacts down there."

            "But I still don't believe that the codex was down there," Alex said.  He was not yelling anymore.  He was listening to what Uaxahpu was saying.  _I almost have him_, Uaxahpu thought triumphantly.  He didn't let the emotion show on his face.

            "Okay, supposing that Miss Croft did hide the codex before we got to her, how will we find it?" Alex asked.  "The dig site is a giant mud hole."

            "We don't need to.  Just have men hiding around, prepared to follow Miss Croft when she returns for it.  She will lead us to it."

            "Miss Croft is in jail, Uaxahpu.  How is she supposed to lead us to the codex from her prison cell?"

            _Once more, I am in command_, Uaxahpu thought happily.  _Alex, you may think you're in charge, but you're merely a puppet whose strings I control.  I will make you dance for me.  And when I am done playing, I will discard you._

            "Miss Croft will not remain in jail for long, Alex.  She is a fighter.  I assure you, by dawn we will have Miss Croft and the Codex of Kinich Ahau's Fury."  _And by the end of the week_, thought Uaxahpu, _the whole world will face the wrath of Kinich Ahau._

                                                            *            *            *

            Televisions and radios blared warnings throughout the Caribbean.  MONSTER HURRICANE!  BOARD UP YOUR WINDOWS!  PREPARE FOR EVACUATION!  People rushed to stores to buy supplies.  Supermarkets sold out on bread and water in a matter of hours.  Roads were clogged with families rushing to get further inland.  No one knew for sure where the hurricane was headed.  It could always change course, and nobody wanted to be caught in the path of this storm.  News flashes spoke of the incredible power of the hurricane.  Reports spoke of the never-before-seen wind speeds, the incredible amount of rainfall that was anticipated, the tide surges that were expected to wash away entire shorelines.  People that stayed in their homes, playing the odds that the storm wouldn't come their way, were glued to their televisions.  Many breathed a sigh of relief when the meteorologists gave their prediction of the storm's course.  It was not coming to the U.S.  Others were terrified.  They had relatives and friends on vacation in the tropical paradise that the hurricane was going to strike.  The airports around Cancun were mobbed by people trying to get on flights home before the storm hit.  Because all of the world's most sophisticated meteorological equipment had reached the same conclusion.  The hurricane was heading for Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.


	2. Part II

**Part II**

            As the lights of the airport came into view, Lara reflected on the fact that she had arrived here only a day and a half ago.  Her plans for a relaxing vacation had been dashed before she had even stepped out of the airport terminal.  Now, she was leaving Mexico, and most likely would be banned from ever returning.

            Before her police car had even arrived at its station, the officers received an order over their radio to take her and Sam to Cancun's airport instead, where they were to be deported back to England.

            Mexico had strict policies against people who damaged historical sites and artifacts, since so much its economy depended upon tourism.  Someone high up in the Mexican government had to have given the order to let her and Sam go.  Lara knew that many favors must have been called in for the leniency they were receiving.  And she was pretty sure she knew what influential Englishman had called in those favors.  She was not looking forward to seeing her father when she arrived in London.

            The squad car continued its journey toward the airport.  The traffic going into the airport was surprisingly heavy.  There were almost no cars leaving the airport.  This struck Lara as odd.  Cancun was a popular tourist center.  People should be arriving at all times of day and night.  Lara pushed the thought aside.  She had more important things to worry about.

            At least she did until they reached the airport parking lot.  There was hardly an empty spot left, and there were still people driving around, trying to grab the few spots still open.  As the officers up front swore in Spanish and started roaming up and down the lanes, looking for a place to park, Lara examined the airport.

            Not only was the parking lot almost full, but there were also long lines at the rent-a-car stations of people trying to return their rented vehicles.  Almost all of the people Lara could see were heading towards the airport doors.  Lara felt that if anyone tried to exit the airport against the flow of the crowd, they would probably be trampled.  _What is this_, she wondered, _a mass exodus?_  As she would soon find out, it was.

            Finally giving up the search, the driver of their car double parked right outside of the terminal doors.  After explaining the situation to a few airport police officers who threatened to tow the squad car, Lara and Sam were dragged out of their seats and led into the building.  It was a madhouse

            As Lara looked around herself in amazement, she remembered her arrival here over a day ago.  She had thought the airport had been in pandemonium then.  She had been wrong.  Compared to the terminal's current state, her arrival had been about as chaotic as a poetry reading.  This was insanity.

            You could not take three steps without bumping into someone.  In many places the crowds were so thick that people were standing shoulder to shoulder.  The lines to get through the metal detectors appeared to stretch on forever, as did the lines to buy tickets.  The flight status boards all contained either 'delayed' or 'cancelled' flight conditions.  The PA system, which Lara had struggled to hear the day before, was now completely inaudible, blocked out by the voices and clatter of all of the people in the small space.  And the smell of all of those people, combined with the oppressive heat that still existed this late at night, was almost overpowering.

            "WHAT'S GOING ON?" Lara shouted demandingly into the ear of the officer escorting her.  He turned to glare at her, and then shrugged.  He seemed as baffled by all of this commotion as she was.

            The officers, with the help of more airline security personnel, forced their way through the crowd of angry and frantic people.  They were shoved, jostled, and elbowed as they moved.  Lara couldn't fathom what had scared all of these people to the extent that they were so desperate to escape the country.  Had the heat triggered a massive field or forest fire?  They had been fighting small brushfires for months, but perhaps one had gotten out of hand.  No, people drove away from fires; they didn't skip out of the country.  Maybe there had been a military coup.  That was always a possibility when one was around so many third world nations.  But even that didn't seem to account for the near-hysteria of so many people.  They were behaving like Death himself was coming to the Yucatan, his scythe in one hand, the other knocking on the door.

            Breaking through the main crowd, Lara, Sam, and their police escort moved toward the airport security headquarters.  They passed through a pair of frosted glass doors that, once having swung shut, blocked out some of the chaos that had assaulted their senses.

            The headquarters office was in shambles.  Airport security guards were running off in all directions with their orders.  The telephones in the little room were all either ringing or in use.  The cigarette-scarred, coffee-stained desks were littered with forgotten reports.  The head of security, a red-faced and balding man, was shouting off commands to his subordinates.  He was faced with the task of suppressing the fights that had broken out in the main terminal before they coalesced into a riot.  He certainly did not need to deal with the deportation of a couple of celebrity archaeologists.

            The Chief of Airport Security rattled off his orders.  "_Carlos, ¡date prisa!  Luis, ¡necesito los reportajes!  Esteban, ¡auxilia los agentes de policia!  ¡Ahora!_"  As his men rushed to fulfill their duties, Lara felt a bit of sympathy for the chief.  Keeping the peace in the midst of this craziness had to be one hell of a rough job.__

The man named Esteban, a young security guard hardly out high school, hurried over to the police officers.  The officers handed him a bag filled with the weapons and equipment they had taken from Lara and Sam.  Esteban locked their belongings in a nearby locker before returning to the policemen.  They had a conversation in Spanish, which Lara had no trouble following along with since she was quite fluent in the language.

            "What the hell is going on?" asked the taller of the two policemen.  "We had to plow our way through a thousand people to get here."

            "Haven't you heard?" asked Esteban, astonished at their ignorance.  "A hurricane is due to strike the Yucatan within the next few days.  All of the tourists are trying to leave at once.  Even many of the locals are leaving the area.  At least, those that can afford tickets."

            "Cowards," sneered the other police officer.  "We're hit by hurricanes every year.  What's everyone so afraid of?"

            "The reports are saying that this hurricane is of unbelievable proportions.  A monster.  The heat of the past few months has made the storm one of the most powerful on record.  And they say it's still growing."

            "I still say it's a bunch of bull," muttered the first officer.  "A storm is a storm."  Esteban shrugged, but said nothing.  As soon as his shift was over, he intended to pack his family into his car and drive to his parents' house on the Pacific Ocean, putting a continent between him and this hurricane.

            "Let's forget about this storm, okay?" said the shorter officer.  "We're just here to see that these two grave robbers get onto their flight to England.  Apparently, they have important friends, or else they would be rotting in their jail cells right now.  Instead, we're just going to ship these criminals back where they came from.  I swear, there is no justice in the world.  If I had my way, these two—"

            "Drop the lecture, Pablo," his partner snapped.  "You talk to much."  Turning back to Esteban, he said, "Just tell us where their flight is departing from and we'll take them there."

            Esteban burst out laughing.  He quickly stopped under the glares of the two policemen, and explained.  "I'm sorry, it's just that there _is_ no flight to England.  All Trans-Atlantic flights have been cancelled because of the heavy storm activity.  Right now, we can only book flights to locations within the Americas."

            The tall officer cursed.  "Well, then you'll have to book them on a flight to the US, and then put them on a connecting flight to England," he said, but Esteban was already shaking his head.

            "The flights out of the airport are booked solid for the next two days, and each flight has a waiting list a mile long.  And most of those flights have already been delayed as well.  We've arrested so many people in the last few hours that all of our holding cells are filled to capacity.  I'm afraid that they will just have to remain with you until an opening appears."

            Now both officers launched into a string of curses.  Neither one wanted to be stuck babysitting two vandals all night, but their police chief had ordered them not to let them out of their sight until they were on the plane.

            The conflict quickly escalated into a shouting match between the officers and Esteban.  The poor kid had no idea how to handle the situation.  He was easily cowed by the two law enforcement veterans.  Finally, without any real decision being reached, Esteban led them and the officers up a couple flights of stairs and down a few dingy, deserted hallways to a locked door.  Producing a set of keys from his pockets, Esteban unlocked the door, opened it, and flipped on a light switch.  A row of fluorescent lights illuminated the room.

            Inside the room was a beautifully grained mahogany conference table surrounded by well-upholstered chairs.  A large window looked out onto the airport tarmac, over ten meters below.

            _Nice_, thought Lara.  _They're letting a couple of dirty criminals sit in the executive conference room.  Someone is going to be in big trouble._

            Esteban was thinking the same thing.  "Look, guys, really, why don't you just watch them while I try and find an opening in one of the flights.  I'm not supposed to let anyone in here."

            "We don't have time to just sit around waiting for an opening that isn't going to appear, kid," growled Pablo.  "You just stand guard outside this door and wait for us.  Rafa and I are going to go talk with the head of security.  We'll take a few of the men in the holding cells with us back to our station, and these two can take their places, okay?  Good."

            The two officers left before the nervous airport security guard could think of anything to say.  Esteban turned to the two criminals and said in poor English, "You stay here.  Sit.  No move.  No touch.  I listen."  Then he walked out of the room, looking back at them several times as if to make sure they hadn't disappeared while his head was turned.  He flipped the lights off right before leaving, then closed the door, locking it behind him.

            Sam and Lara continued to stand where they had been left, letting their eyes adjust to the light that entered through the window.

            "Well, that was interesting," said Sam, speaking for the first time since their arrest.  "Who do you think managed to keep us out of jail?"

            "Probably my father, Lord Henshingly Croft," said Lara absently.  She was thinking about other things.  Things like hurricanes and rain gods and dreams that came true…

            "I'll have to send him a thank-you card.  Do you think Hallmark has one for this occasion?"

            That managed to get a laugh out of Lara.  "Yeah, right between wedding anniversaries and birthdays are the bail/parole/deportation cards."

            "And I suppose we'll need to send a note of apology to Mason."  That comment sobered Lara up instantly.  Mason was one of her oldest friends.  She had to make this up to him.

            "Listen, Sam, I can't go back to England.  If I do, they'll never let me back into Mexico, and I have some business to take care of here.  I need to escape.  You don't have to come with me, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't try to stop me, either."

            "Just what is this business you need to take care of?  Don't tell me you want to go back for that codex."

            "Yes, Sam," Lara said. "That's exactly what I intend to do.  And then I'm going after Alex.  He's up to something evil, and if I can stop it, maybe I can set things right with everyone."

            Sam mulled over that for a moment.  Finally he said, "Well, I guess it depends on what our chances of a successful escape are.  How exactly are we going to blend in to the crowd after we get out of here?  We would sort of stand out."  He gestured toward their clothes.  Sam's wetsuit would stick out like a sore thumb.  Lara's outfit wouldn't be as noticeable if it, along with her entire body, was not coated with dried mud.  Lara was used to getting dirty, but this was a lot of filth, even for her.

            "Once we get out of here, we'll steal some luggage," she answered.  "It will be easy in all of this confusion.  And the crowds will make it easier to hide."

            "Well, unless you want break that window and free fall ten meters down to the tarmac, you're going to need to get out that door and past that guard.  How do you intend to do that?"

            "That won't be a problem.  Esteban has no idea what he's doing."

            "And these?" Sam asked, holding up his cuffed wrists.

            Lara smiled and withdrew her hands from behind her back.  Her handcuffs were open.  She was free.

            "How…" Sam began before Lara opened up her fist and showed him the paper clip she had used to pick the handcuff locks.

            "I palmed it off a desk while the police and Esteban were yelling at each other," she said with a grin.  "Rafa was right.  Pablo talks to much."

            Sam matched her grin with one of his own.  "Count me in."

                                                            *          *          *

            Esteban stood in the hall, dividing his time between worrying about losing his job to this security breach, and worrying about losing his home to the hurricane.  He decided that the hurricane deserved more worry and began making a mental list of the things he would have to pack.  Nothing valuable could be left behind, or the looters would take it.  But considering his meager paycheck, that would not be a big problem.

            His thoughts were interrupted by a crash from beyond the door.  The impending hurricane lost its importance and Esteban fumbled for his keys while he mentally saw a pink slip in his future.  Why had he let those egotistical men talk him into this?  He must have been crazy to lock those two in the conference room.

            Finally managing to slide the correct key into the lock, Esteban threw the door open and rushed into the room.  His face paled as his worst fears were confirmed.  A chair had been used to smash the window.  And the two criminals were gone.

            Esteban fought down his panic as he ran over to the gaping hole where the window had once been.  The damage that had been caused would certainly result in the termination of his employment, but that no longer mattered.  If the man and woman had been injured in their fall, however, his negligence could result in a prison sentence for himself.

            It turned out that Esteban had no need to worry about that.  Before he even reached the window he was hit hard on the back of the head, and fell to the plush, carpeted floor, unconscious.

                                                            *          *          *

            "He's out cold," said Sam after examining Esteban.  "Now let's get out of here."

            "Just a minute," said Lara, stepping out from behind the door where she and Sam had hidden.  As soon as Esteban had started into the room, Sam had run up behind him and struck him hard on the back of his neck.  Apparently Sam had some fighting experience.

            "Lara, those policemen could be back any second.  We need to leave now."

            "First we have to get our things back.  Change into Esteban's uniform.  You're going to have to pretend to be an airport security guard."

            "This is a really bad idea," Sam grumbled, but began removing Esteban's shirt.

            Yet as Lara stepped out into the hall to watch for the returning police officers, Sam muttered under his breath, "But it just might work."

                                                            *          *          *

            Lara sneaked quietly through the narrow corridors of the airport offices.  Occasionally she had to duck into a room when she heard someone coming, but the hallways were mostly deserted.  While the terminal and security offices were in turmoil, most of the regular offices were abandoned.

            _The people who are supposed to be working in these offices probably all called in sick when they received the news about the hurricane_, Lara thought._  In fact, the employee shortage is probably adding to the flight delays.  Bad news for the airport, but another stroke of luck for me._

            And Lara did seem to be on a lucky streak.  The delayed flights, the overloaded jail cells, the busy security personnel, the deserted offices, the mass confusion.  All were working in her favor.  And all stemmed from one source.  The hurricane.

            Once again, Lara's thoughts turned toward the dream she had had earlier that night.  Chac had mentioned using a hurricane in the past to destroy the Chol Maya army.  It was possible that that part of her dream had been inspired by the legend she had read on the stele.  That made sense.  But in her dream, Chac had also implied that he would send another hurricane to destroy this new threat.  And she had not known about the hurricane until _after_ she had escaped the Temple of Chac.

            _Could it really be true?_ Lara wondered as her eyes darted back and forth, looking for potential threats in the hallway.  _Did I really speak to Chac?  Is there really a ritual that can be performed that can stop rain from falling to the world?_  Lara had encountered divine and mystical beings in the past, but usually logical explanations could be found for the mysterious occurrences that she regularly investigated.  She did not want to leap to the conclusion that these events were supernatural until she had proof.  So far, everything that had happened could be explained away to coincidence.

            Lara shook her head fiercely.  Now was not the time to be thinking about this.  First she must retrieve the codex.  She would base her decisions on that.

            Lara continued down the hall, looking for a door that would lead her back to the terminal.  Sam would not be able to hold up his policeman act for long, and Lara couldn't walk around in such filthy clothes without being noticed.  So while Sam was making his way back to the security offices to get their belongings out of the locker, Lara was hunting for new clothes.  If she could just grab a suitcase, she and Sam would be able to change into new outfits and disappear into the crowds.

            Lara followed the noise of the crowds until she reached a door that she knew must open out into the terminal.  She turned the knob and cracked the door open.  Peeking through the gap, her suspicions were confirmed.  The mob of people were pressed back almost to the wall.  Any more people and she would have had to knock someone over to open the door.

            However, the important thing was that there were no security guards in sight.  Lara opened the door wider and slipped out into the terminal.

            She received several curious glances from people nearby, along with some looks of disgust.  Lara's mouth tightened.  These people would remember her.  She had to get clean clothes.

            Lara made her way over to the luggage carousel.  It took a lot longer than she would have liked.  Not only did she have to fight her way through the crowd, but she had to do it so as not to attract the attention of the airport security guards she could see throughout the terminal.

            The mood of the crowd seemed to have settled down a little bit, most likely because many of the people who had been standing here all night were too tired to make much of a ruckus any more.  The security guards, who no longer had to fear an imminent riot, now wandered through crowds, trying to discourage violence through their mere presence.

            The smell of body odor was awful.  The combination of stifling heat and rampant fear was causing everyone to drip with sweat.  Lara had to breathe through her mouth to keep herself from becoming nauseous.

            People stared at her as she went by, partially because she was so filthy, partially due to the sneaky manner in which she moved, always keeping an eye out for a guard.  Lara knew it was only a matter of time before someone reported her odd behavior to one of them.

            When she was looking at a security guard, Lara bumped into an American holding a small wrapped package.  He dropped it, and she heard something break within it.  "Watch where the hell you're going!" the man shouted at her.  Lara hurried on, the man's shouts following her.  She didn't need this kind of attention.  After a few moments she looked back.  The man stood where she had left him, still fuming, but apparently not angry enough to go to the trouble of pointing her out to a guard, as Lara had feared he might.  She breathed a sigh of relief over the close call and moved on.

            Lara reached the luggage carousel, finding it nearly empty.  Not many people were arriving at this airport now.  Only a handful of suitcases and bags made the endless trip around the carousel, waiting for their owners to claim them.

            Spotting two black leather suitcases that seemed to be part of a set, Lara strode purposefully toward them, picked them off of the revolving belt, and turned to make her way back to the door she had entered the terminal through.

            _That was so much easier than waiting for my own bags_, Lara thought with a smile.  _Maybe I should always just grab the first suitcase to come by when I travel.  It would certainly speed up my trip through the airport._

            Lara made her way back through the crowd, using a different route so the same people wouldn't see her twice.  She was halfway across the terminal when she saw the American she had run into a few minutes ago talking to a security guard and pointing at her.  The security guard turned to look at her.  Lara recognized him from the security offices.  And from the look on his face, he recognized her, too.

            As he shouted an alarm to the other guards nearby, Lara gritted her teeth and plowed her way through the crowd.

            _Bloody airports_, she thought.

                                                            *          *          *

            Getting his and Lara's things had been pathetically easy.  All Sam had had to do was walk into the airport security headquarters, search through Esteban's keys until he found the one that fit the lock on the locker, open it up, and take the bag out.  And that was that.

            _Now if Lara doesn't get caught trying to scrounge up some clothes for us, we can be out of here in a few minutes_, he thought as he slammed the locker door shut.  Turning around he ran right into Pablo, the short police officer.

            "Get out of my way, you clumsy fool," he said angrily in Spanish, putting as much contempt into the words as possible.  Pushing Sam aside, he walked over to the coffee station and began pouring himself a cup.  "And see if you can find some sugar packets for me."

            _To hell with that_, thought Sam, breathing a sigh of relief.  _I'm outta here._

            That sigh caught in Sam's throat when he heard Lara's name being spoken over his walkie-talkie.  Someone had just spotted her in the airport terminal.

            Pablo choked on his coffee as he, too, heard the announcement.  Sam heard a shout come from the Chief of Security's office and a moment later saw the tall policeman, Rafa, burst through its door, followed quickly by the Chief of Security himself.

            The two police officers rushed out of the double doors and into the packed terminal.  The Chief of Security shouted at several of his men to help them.

            Sam walked quickly toward the side door that led to the empty office hallways.  He had to get back to the office where he and Lara had agreed to meet.

            Just as his fingers touched the doorknob, a hand clamped down on his shoulder.  Sam tensed, preparing to fight or flee.  Or both.

            "Didn't you hear the chief?" the guard behind him asked.  "We're supposed to be chasing after those two escapees.  Now come on, or you're going to get yourself fired."

            Left without a choice, Sam turned and followed the guard out the double doors.

            _Well, Lara, I'm on my way_, he thought as he started making his way through the angry mob.  _Just don't kill me before you notice who I am._

                                                            *          *          *

            Lara left a wake of fallen men and women behind her as she smashed her way through the crowd.  Cries and curses followed her movements, shouted in all of the different tongues of the world.  Lara was amazed that none of the civilians that she elbowed her way past reached out to grab her.  Whether fatigue had mellowed them or frustration had put them past caring she didn't know, but they continued to let her run by.

            Of course, that didn't mean she would get away.  Security guards made their way toward her from all directions, attempting to surround her.  And the two suitcases she was carrying further impeded her.

            As Lara worked her way toward the door she had entered the terminal through, she realized that she would not make it there in time.  Already, two guards were working their way ahead of her, planning to block her escape route.  They would reach the door before she would.

            Then an opening appeared in front of her.  Lara stumbled, almost falling to the floor headfirst but catching herself at the last moment.  She paused, astonished.  The people between her and the door were moving apart, creating a path for her to run through.  And as she glanced at the guards she saw people grabbing at them, holding them back.

            The crowd, tired, scared, and frustrated, had finally turned against the airport personnel.  They held the guards back as she ran past them.  She heard cheers as she raced down the path they had created for her.  She thanked them silently and hoped that this would not turn into a full-blown riot.

            She grabbed the knob and twisted it with one motion.  And crashed into the unmoving door.  The door was designed to allow people in the offices to reach the terminal.  But from this side it was locked.  And she had no key.

            Shoulder throbbing, Lara turned and ran along the wall.  The crowd was thinner here, so she could move faster.  But where she was running _to_ was still uncertain.  She knew she couldn't make it to the exit doors.  There were far too many guards near them.  Besides, she had to make sure Sam made it out safely, too.  And she couldn't count on any of the other side doors being unlocked.  What she needed were keys.

            Looking about herself, Lara realized where she was.  That small alcove over there with the counter could only be one thing.  She hurried toward it, her two newly obtained suitcases banging against her legs as she ran.

            Lara rushed over to the front desk.  Behind it was a closed door that Lara was willing to bet led back to the rear airport offices.  "I need you to unlock that door," she shouted at the lady behind the desk.  The woman looked up, mechanically saying, "I'm sorry, you're not allowed—"

            Lara leaped over the desk and grabbed the woman by the neck, shoving her against the wall.  She couldn't believe it.  It was Amy, the woman who had nearly driven her mad the day she had arrived here.

            Amy, on the other hand, clearly did not recognized Lara, and didn't care who she was.  All she was worried about was getting this crazy woman to let go of her neck.

            Amy reached into her pocket and withdrew a key ring.  Her fingers shook as she searched for the proper one.  Lara looked back over her shoulder at the approaching guards.  They would be on her in seconds if Amy didn't get this door open soon.

            Finally settling on a key, Amy thrust it into the keyhole and turned it.  Lara heard the tumblers move and threw the door open.  She grabbed Amy's keys and dove through the door, turning quickly to fling it shut in the face of a guard.  The door automatically locked on the other side, buying her some time.

            _Thank you, Amy_, Lara thought happily.  _For once in your life, you really were helpful._

            Lara's victory was short-lived.  Two men were racing down the corridor toward her.  With a sinking feeling, she realized that they were the two policemen who had brought her and Sam here.

            They shouted at her as she turned down a side corridor, quickly reaching a full sprint.  She was sure she could lose them.  Lara had met few people who could run as fast as she could.

            She rounded a corner and spotted a flight of stairs.  She took them up, three steps at a time.  If she could get to the meeting place with Sam, they could still both get out of here.

            Reaching the top of the stairs, Lara turned left and ran down the hall, looking for a familiar landmark.  When she reached another hall intersecting her own, she turned left again.  And ran straight into the arms of a security guard.

            They crashed to the floor, Lara on top.  She heard the air rush out of the guard's lungs from the force of the impact.  That didn't slow him down, however.  Before Lara could get up and take off again, the man grabbed her arm and pulled her back down.  Lara aimed a kick at the man's face with her right foot, but he blocked it with a surprising quickness.  Unfortunately for him, that move left his lower body open.  Lara shifted her weight to her right foot and used her left to kick him in the stomach.  The man grunted and released his hold on her arm.  Lara spun away and ran.

            "Lara…" she heard the man wheeze as she ran away.  She came to a halt and looked back.

            "Sam!" she cried, running back to him.  "Oh, Sam, I'm sorry!  I didn't realize it was you!"  She grabbed his arm and helped pull him to his feet.  Sam groaned as he straightened up and fixed a glare on Lara.

            "Watch where you're going," he growled, and then broke into a coughing fit.  He leaned against the wall, trying to get his breath back.  "What took you so long?" he managed to gasp.

            "I ran into a little trouble.  Why aren't you already back at the conference room?  If I had gotten there and found you missing, I would have left without you."

            "Gee, thanks.  And after all of that trouble I went through to get your bloody guns back."  He held up the sack containing their gear.  "They made me chase after you.  With all of the confusion it was easy enough to work my way to a door that led back here.  I was on my way back to the conference room when I ran into you.  Or rather, when you ran into me."

            "You don't know how lucky you are to have a set of keys," Lara said.  "I had to borrow someone else's."  She set the suitcases on the floor and began opening the latches.  "Let's see what kind clothes we're going to be wearing."

            What happened next went so fast the Lara didn't have a chance to react.  She had been leaning over the suitcases, preparing to open them up, when Sam suddenly reached down, grabbed her arm, and spun her, slamming her up against the wall.  He viciously twisted her arm behind her back, causing tears to come to her eyes.  He kept her pressed against the wall with his shoulder, immobilizing her.

            "What the hell are you doing?" she grunted through the pain.  _What is going on?_ she thought as she struggled against him.  Fear began to creep into her mind.  She realized that she really didn't know very much about Sam.  In fact, he could be one of Alex's henchmen.  _Why did I let myself trust him?_ she thought angrily.  _I can't let him get away with this!_

            Then she heard quick steps coming down a connecting corridor.  The noise must have been there before, but she hadn't noticed it.  As she heard the steps pound around the corner of the hallway, she realized what Sam must be doing.

            "There she is!  A guard has her!"  Lara twisted her head enough to see that the two policemen had caught up with them.  She had completely forgotten about them.

            They hurried over to Lara and Sam.  Neither one spared even a passing glance at the guard keeping her pinned against the wall.  Police officers looked with contempt upon airport security personnel.

            "You thought you could get away from us, little girl?" sneered Pablo.  "Well guess what.  You've just blown your chances of getting deported.  We're hauling you off to jail where you belong."

            As the two officers reached them, Sam released Lara's arm.  Sam struck a devastating blow to Rafa, and Lara rapidly executed a succession karate punches that left Pablo writhing on the floor.  Lara grabbed up the suitcases and raced after Sam down the corridor as the policemen dazedly struggled to their feet.

            "Quick thinking," Lara panted as they ran.

            "Thanks.  Coming from you that's quite a compliment," Sam said between breaths.

            "But did you really have to twist my arm so hard?"

            Sam grinned.  "No, I didn't _have_ to, I guess."

            Lara would have had a few choice phrases for him had she not been breathing so hard.

            They found another staircase and returned to the main floor.  Once again, Lara followed the noise of the crowd to a door that would lead back to the terminal.  There, they stopped.

            "Those guys will be here any moment," Sam said.  "Let's see what you've got in those suitcases."

            Lara opened the suitcases, displaying their contents to Sam.

            He grinned.  "What luck!" he said, and reached down to pull a garment from one of the suitcases.  Lara reached down and pulled an item of clothing from the other suitcase.

            They heard the pounding feet of their pursuers.  Sam looked at Lara.  "We had better hurry."

            "It won't take us long to put _these_ clothes on," she replied as she quickly slipped her new outfit on over her clothes.

                                                            *          *          *

            Pablo and Rafa spotted the looted suitcases lying near a door leading to the terminal.

            "When I get my hands on those two...," muttered Pablo as they burst through the door into the noisy terminal.

            The officers looked around the crowded room of exhausted people.  They saw no sign of the two escapees.

            Rafa turned to a man wearing a Hawaiian shirt who was standing next to the door they had just come through.  "Have you seen anyone come out of here in the last few seconds?" he asked.  The man responded in Russian.

            Rafa made a few hand gestures, trying to relate the question to the Russian.  The man seemed to understand, and pointed toward a spot on the other side of the terminal.

            Rafa and Pablo made their way in the direction the Russian had indicated.  They were determined not to let them escape.  Not only did their jobs depend on them putting them into custody again, they had a score to settle with them as well.

            They elbowed and pushed their way through the crowd roughly.  People shouted curses at them.  They shouted some of their own back.  Rafa punched an Italian who was shouting into his ear.  Pablo shoved a Muslim woman in a black dress to the floor.  This drew a long series of Arabic curses from her heavily-robed husband, which they completely ignored.  They continued to fight their way through the crowd, searching every face for a glimpse of Lara or Sam.  They searched for a long time before giving up.

                                                            *          *          *

            The Arabic man reached down to help the woman up, while putting his other hand on his head to keep his turban from slipping off.  The woman, who had become entangled in the folds of her dress, accepted the offered hand.  After getting to her feet, she attempted to smooth some of the wrinkles in her dress.  Finally coming to terms with the futility of that effort, she faced the robed man.

            "It's incredible how much a loose robe and a turban can change a man's looks," Lara said to Sam.

            "It may do a good job of changing your looks but it sure is a pain to wear," Sam replied, steadying the mass of cloth on top of his head.  "Anyway, its not nearly as effective as that dress you're wearing," he said, looking at Lara's eyes through the narrow slit in the veil.

            "Which I intend to take off as soon as possible.  I'm baking inside this thing.  Now let's get out of here fast.  We have work to do while it's still dark."

            Now that people had realized that they were not going to get a flight out anytime soon, many of them were leaving to return to their hotels or homes in Cancun.  The security guards watching the exit doors examined the face of every person who passed through.  However, none of them paid much attention to the Islamic couple that walked calmly through the gates.  Their report had given them a description of the two English criminals, and these two certainly were not them.  They couple walked off unhindered.

                                                            *          *          *

            Barbados was the first land the hurricane hit.  The center and most violent portion of the hurricane passed to the north, but the even the force of the southern part of the hurricane wrought incredible devastation.  On the windward side of the island, waves towering over ten meters swept away boats and docks and any people unfortunate enough to be nearby, crippling towns dependent upon the sea for their survival.  Winds gusting over a hundred and thirty miles per hour toppled houses and tossed anything not tied down into the sea.  The horror for the people of Barbados would continue for almost twelve hours.  They would not have been able to endure much more.

                                                            *          *          *

            Lara crept through the field as quietly and quickly as she could.  There was a light streak in the eastern sky.  Sunrise was not far off, and Lara could not afford to be caught in the daylight.

            After renting a car outside of the airport (apparently the police were so certain they would be caught that they didn't alert the rental agency) Lara and Sam had driven into Cancun, where they had bought some less conspicuous clothes for Sam.  Then they had driven back to Lara's hotel, where they showered and changed and packed Lara's suitcases.  They had left the hotel just before several police cars pulled up to it, belatedly checking to see if Lara had returned for her things.  By driving as fast as their rental car could go, they reached their former dig site just as the sky began to lighten.  Now, while Sam waited in the car a few miles down the road, Lara searched for her box of flares, and the codex it contained.

            The crowds had churned up the muddy acres surrounding the new cenote earlier that night.  Now they were deserted and barren, with the exception of a few hardy trees and shrubs, and one female adventurer.  The cenote had shrunk in size to a few hundred square meters.  Over the next few years it would slowly grow smaller, until it would only be a dozen or so meters across.  Lara felt another pang of sorrow over the loss of Panichi, but that sorrow quickly changed into resolve to salvage Chac's altar room.  And to protect it from Alex.

            Lara glanced at Alex's camp in the distance.  It was very quiet in these early morning hours, but there were a couple of men moving about the camp.  They might be early risers on their morning jog, but Lara was quite certain that they were guarding the camp.  Lara had been worried that there might be guards around the cenote, but she had not seen any.  Apparently Alex no longer had any concern for the site, now that he believed that it had been looted.  As if to confirm Alex's loss of interest, she noticed several shipping trucks parked around the camp.  She guessed that they were planning on packing their equipment into those vehicles.  They would probably be gone by the end of the day.

            Lara turned to examine Mason's camp.  There was no movement visible over there at all.  There were far fewer tents set up there than before, and crates were stacked everywhere, filled with equipment.  The group had gotten an even earlier start on packing up.  They would probably be at the airport by noon.  But when they would actually get a flight to England was anybody's guess.

            Lara returned to her task of retrieving the codex.  The changes in the lighting and the landscape around the new cenote made it difficult to determine the position she had been in earlier that night when she had found the codex.  With only a vague idea of where she should be looking, she left the cover of the grassy field and ran quickly toward the muddy plot of earth.

            When she got to a point she believed to be close to her flare box, she crouched and looked around.  Nothing moved.  No one had raised a call of alarm.  So far, she had gone unnoticed.

            She looked about herself as she caught her breath.  Nothing looked familiar.  Any one of the stunted shrubs and bushes that grew nearby could be sheltering the lost codex.  She didn't know where to begin, and the sun would soon be up.

            As if sensing her thoughts, the sun began to peek over the eastern horizon, casting away more of the night's gloom, and burning upon her with a fierceness that nearly made her flinch away from its illuminating rays.

            Then Lara saw something glinting in the sunlight, not far away from her.  The shining object lay nestled beneath a small dying shrub.  A very familiar small dying shrub.

            Running in a crouch, Lara hurried toward the bush.  When she neared it, she saw her flare box.  A scratch in the paint had left a small line of shiny metal exposed, thus providing her with a beacon to follow.

            _What a stroke of luck that the sun came out when it did_, Lara thought, her face solemn.  _Things just seem to be going well for me all of the sudden.  And that really worries me._  Lara was quite unused to events that occurred smoothly and things that went her way.  She was used to making her own luck.  She _preferred_ making her own luck.  She could trust herself.  She did not like trusting fate, or whatever unseen forces were helping her, even when they seemed to be working in her favor.

            However, even if Lara didn't trust fate, she wouldn't turn away a gift from it.  She scooped up her flare box and made a dash back toward the cover of the field grass.  Upon reaching its shielding greenery, she turned and examined the camps once more.  Save for the few 'joggers,' no one was moving.  Her efforts had gone unnoticed.  She made her way back to the car, where Sam would be waiting impatiently.

                                                            *          *          *

            The woman was attempting to use the field grass for cover, and was doing a very good job of it.  The very fact that he hadn't spotted her until she was leaving was testament to her skill in stealth.  It was only his elevated position that allowed him to spot her at all.

            While keeping the stunningly attractive Englishwoman in view through his binoculars, the scout pulled a walkie-talkie from his belt.  After lying motionless in this tree for hours, he was happy to be doing anything.  He had begun to fear that the woman would not show up and that he would have to remain here all day, for he was certain that Alex would have made him do just that if finding the codex depended on it.  While Alex and that weird Mayan guy had not told the other men just what it was that this codex would do for them, Alex had indicated that they would all become fabulously wealthy if they could just get their hands on it.

            He contacted the surveillance team leader over the walkie-talkie.  His team leader's voice came crackling through the speaker, asking what he had to report.

            "I have a visual on the woman," the scout said in response.  "She is making her way across the field on the far side of the sinkhole.  She is headed west.  I repeat, she is headed _away_ from the site.  Over."

            "Is she carrying anything with her?  Over," asked the team leader.

            The scout peered intently at the woman through his binoculars.  It was difficult to make out any details at this distance, even with the powerful magnification of the binoculars he was using.  But as she swung her arms back and forth, an object glinted in the light of the early morning sun.  An object that she was holding in her hand.

            "Yes," he answered.  "She is carrying an object in her right hand.  Over."

            Moments later, the headlights of the several shipping trucks parked around Alex's campsite lit up and their engines roared to life.  The men who had been lying on the seats of the vehicles all night were now sitting up and putting them into gear.  In the backs of the trucks, a couple dozen armed men readied themselves for the possibility of combat.  Alex had ordered them not to fire unless fired upon, but that didn't stop them from hoping for a little action.

            The small convoy reached the road and turned to head west.

                                                            *          *          *

            Lara gazed at the still-folded codex.  She could not yet bring herself to unfold it, and learn the secrets it contained.

            After rejoining, Sam and Lara had driven several miles down small and dusty side roads until they had found a small wood.  Unable to rent a hotel room for fear that the police were looking for them, they had decided to examine the codex while hidden among these trees.  They drove the car as far into the woods as they possibly could, and then used tree branches to cover it well enough that it could not be seen from the woods.  Finally, Lara had removed the codex from her box of flares, relieved to see that it had not been damaged.  But now she found herself unable to open it.

            Sam watched her warily from his seat across from her on a fallen log.  She had told him about her dream of Chac while they had driven, and the strange coincidences that seemed to connect her dream to reality.  Sam had not had many comments to make on the subject.  Finally he had said, "Lara, you've seen some really weird things in your travels.  I think the question you have to ask yourself is whether or not this falls into the category of a supernatural occurrence.  If it does, I think you should take Chac's advice and burn the thing before Alex gets his hands on it.  If you think your dream was really just a dream, then don't."

            Which left Lara as the only person who could make the final decision.  And so she sat, staring at the folded piece of parchment.

            All of her instincts were telling her to burn it, burn it now.  There had been too much coincidence in the past couple of days, too many chance occurrences.  It all screamed of supernatural influence.

            But she couldn't make herself do it.  The reason that she went through such dangerous experiences was to bring back pieces of history like this one.  If she destroyed this paper, it would be just that much more history lost to the oblivion of time.  She could save the secrets of this codex.  She had to.  If she destroyed it, she would no longer have any bait to use against Alex.  Just what she could might need bait for, she wasn't certain.  But Alex was not who he said he was, and she had to stop him.  Not just to make up for the devastation that had occurred at Panichi, but for the sake of history, which she felt Alex was threatening.  She could not destroy the codex.

            Drawing a deep breath, she gingerly unfolded the codex, which had not been seen by human eyes for a thousand years.  Carefully, slowly, she opened fold after fold, exposing the bizarre and unsettling, but somehow beautiful, writing of the Mayas.

            Sam leaned toward her.  "What does it say?" he asked in the awed whisper that people have always spoken in when confronted by something ancient and beyond their understanding.

            Lara studied the codex for several minutes.  She raised her head slowly to look at him.  "It's true," she whispered.

            "What's true?" Sam asked.

            "It is about a ritual.  A ritual to banish Chac from earth."  Lara seemed shaken.  Neither one spoke for a moment.

            Sam broke the silence.  "What exactly does it say about the ritual?"

            Lara, slipping into the role of the scholar, gave an explanation of the glyphs.

            "It starts out by saying that the ritual must take place at the Temple of Kinich Ahau.  It goes on to talk about where the temple is located.  It says that it is 'north of where two mighty rivers meet' and 'west of a great lake.'  It gives the names of the lake and rivers, of course, but I don't recognize the glyphs, and their names for them may have no correlation with their current names anyway."

            "It could be just about anywhere, then" Sam said.

            "Actually, it tells us a lot.  Remember, there aren't a lot of surface rivers and lakes in the Yucatan.  And we must keep in mind that this place must fall within the boundaries of the Chol Maya's lands.  This 'great lake' can only be Lake Petén Ítza in Guatemala.  And that would have to make the two rivers the Usumacinta and the Pasión.  Which would place the temple right in the middle of the Guatemalan rain forest."

            "Okay, so we have an idea of where to look.  Great.  Now what about the ritual?"

            "The part about the ritual uses many glyphs that I'm unfamiliar with.  I can't be sure what acts the person performing the ritual must make, but I can understand the purpose.  The ritual is supposed to be able to grant Kinich Ahau the power to cast Chac into the underworld and trap him there."  Lara slowly folded the codex up.

            "So what do you think we should do now?" Sam asked quietly.  Lara knew he was really asking whether or not she thought the codex should be destroyed.

            Lara never knew what her answer would have been.  At that moment she heard crashes in the undergrowth all around her and Sam, and by the time they had leaped to their feet they could see over a dozen men with semi-automatic weapons running toward them.

            Instinctively, Lara's hands twitched toward her pistols.  She stopped herself from drawing them, though.  She could never take out all of these men before they managed to kill her.  Pulling her guns would be the final act of her life.

            In just a few seconds, the men had taken positions around Lara and Sam that allowed them to block all escape routes, but minimized the risk of shooting one of their own men across from them.  They knew exactly what they were doing.

            "Hello, Miss Croft."  Lara spun toward the direction of the voice.  There, beyond the ring of gunmen, was Alex.

            "Well, Alex, what's your excuse for the guns this time?" Lara asked angrily.  "Let me guess.  You were all out in the woods hunting rabbits with your M16 rifles when you happened to find us sitting here?"

            "Of course not, dear," he said as though speaking to a child.  "We spotted you as you were leaving our dig site.  We had heard over the radio last night that you and your friend had escaped from the officers who were supposed to see that you were deported.  When we saw you, we knew it was our civic duty to track you down and bring you to justice.  The Mexican President himself wants you to be found.  I may receive a medal for bringing you in."

            Lara ground her teeth as Alex added insult to injury.  The very thought that this man might be rewarded for turning _them_ into the police outraged her.  They had to get away.

            She had been so intent upon Alex that she had not heard the person sneaking up behind her.  She felt the codex being snatched out of her hand.  Spinning around, she saw the short Mayan man running away from her, codex in hand.  After he had made his way out of the ring of gunmen, he turned and looked at her with his dark eyes.  Lara could feel something sinister there behind them.  Suddenly she felt that she had made a grave mistake by not destroying the codex when she had had the chance.  A very grave mistake.

            "What's that, Uaxahpu?" Alex asked the man from the other side of the circle.  "The codex?  My, my, Miss Croft, first you destroy an ancient temple, and now we catch you in possession of a rare Mayan artifact.  Things aren't looking too good for you, I'm afraid.  I think that you may be looking through prison bars for quite a long time."

            "What are you really up to, Alex?" Sam demanded.  "Who are you?"

            Alex grinned.  "Why, I'm just an archaeologist like yourself, only unlike you, I don't make it a habit of stealing ancient treasures."

            Lara had had about all she could take of this arrogant man.  He was playing with them like they weren't the slightest threat to him.  And the worst thing of all, as far as Lara was concerned, was that he was probably right.

            "Alex," spoke Lara with quiet menace, "I am going to find out who you really are, and I am going to get that codex back.  And I am not going to let you perform that ritual."

            Alex threw his head back and laughed.  When he finally faced her again he had tears in his eyes.

            "Miss Croft," he said, still chuckling, "I really hope you don't believe that ritual can be performed.  I have enough problems with my associate babbling such nonsense.  I don't need to be hearing you spout the same rubbish."

            Lara turned to look at the short Mayan.  What had Alex said his name was?  Uaxahpu?  Lara saw a burning hatred in his eyes as he looked across at Alex.  Then his gaze fell on Lara, and their eyes locked.  At that moment, everything seemed to slide into place for her.  She understood who the true threat was.

            Turning back to face Alex, she said slowly, "Alex, you cannot let that man have the codex.  Whatever else you do with it, you cannot let him use it.  Maybe that ritual is some ancient Mayan joke.  But you can't take that chance.  If it is real, you, and every other person on earth, will be subject to its devastation.  You can_not_ take that chance."

            Alex was laughing at her again.  He struggled to catch his breath enough to speak again.  "Miss Croft, you are truly amazing.  That you might think I would fall for a bluff as ludicrous as that one either means you think very little of my intelligence, or that I have really overestimated your own.  Perhaps I should ask the authorities not to put you in prison.  A mental institute might be a better home for both of you.  I'm sorry, Miss Croft, but a deal is a deal.  My Mayan friend gets to perform his ritual, for all the good it will do him.  He, in turn, provides me with a translation of that codex."

            "What do you need a translation for?" Sam asked.

            "Why, to find the Temple of Kinich Ahau, of course.  Such a great wonder of the ancient world must be uncovered and shared with the rest of humanity.  Think of all we can _learn_ from it."  This time, several of Alex's men joined him in laughter.  Lara barely kept her anger in check.

            "Alex," she said, "I have discovered more hidden temples, found more ancient tombs, recovered more artifacts than perhaps any other person in history.  I never let a mystery go unsolved.  I want to know who you are and what you are up to.  And I will find out."

            The smile vanished from Alex's face for the first time.  He looked upon her very solemnly and said, "You should keep in mind what curiosity did to the cat, Miss Croft."

            Alex started barking orders at his men.  Most were sent back to the trucks.  Alex called over two of his men to whom he had not yet given instructions.

            "John, Randall, you two will escort Miss Croft and Mister Miller to the nearest police station.  Then you are to return to the camp.  Go quickly.  And do not hurt them.  At least, no more than necessary."

            Alex and the rest of his men returned to their trucks.  They drove off, leaving only Lara's rental car.  Once again, Lara and Sam were left with only two men guarding them.

            Lara examined her new captors.  John was the taller of the two, and moved quite agilely and without any wasted motion.  Lara guessed that he was skilled in the martial arts.  Randall, on the other hand, was built like a brick.  Despite his size and apparent strength, he moved rather quickly.  Both were dressed in dirty jeans and T-shirts, and each had an M16 rifle leveled at one of them.  Lara thought Randall looked somewhat familiar, but couldn't remember where she had seen him before.

            "All right, which one of you two has the keys?" asked John after relieving Lara of her weapons.

            With a choice between handing over the keys and being beaten, searched, and then losing the keys to the men, Sam opted for the first alternative.

            After obtaining possession of the keys, John began removing the branches from the car that they had unsuccessfully used to camouflage it.

            Randall covered both of them with his rifle.  Lara noticed that he spent most of his time glaring at her.  He pulled out a cigarette and lit it.  As he drew on it, Lara realized where she had seen him before.  It had been very dark, but that small red light at the tip of his cigarette had led her to him.  She saw the bruise on the back of his head where she had hit him.

            "You were one of the men guarding the cenote last night, weren't you?" asked Lara, immediately regretting it.

            Randall's nostrils flared and his jaw tightened.  "Yeah, that's right," he said, his fury rising to the surface.  "I'm one of the guys you sneaked up behind and knocked out.  I bet you wouldn't have done so well in a straight fight, though, huh?  How about it?  Let's have a little scuffle.  See if you can take me down twice."

            "Randall, get a grip," John said, annoyed.  "Let's just get them in the car and get out of here."  Turning to Lara he said, "Randall has been Alex's go-to guy ever since he killed a Bengal tiger with his bare hands on an expedition of ours in China a few years back.  His position as our number-one fighter has been placed in jeopardy since you took him out so easily last night.  He isn't too happy about that.  If I were you, I wouldn't do anything that might upset him." 

            Randall seemed to calm down slightly, but he still glowered at Lara.  John finished pulling off the branches and ordered her and Sam into the car.  John stood a few paces behind Sam, his rifle trained at his back.  Randall was covering Lara from less than an arm's length away so he could continually prod her sharply in the back with his rifle.

            As they headed for doors on opposite sides of the car, Sam said to her, "Don't worry, Lara.  Everything is going to be fine."

            Lara squinted at him.  It seemed out of character for Sam to be trying to comfort her.  Sam saw her looking at him and glanced quickly down at his right hand.  Lara caught a brief glimpse of a blade sticking out of the sleeve of his shirt.

            _His Swiss army knife!_ she thought excitedly.  _He still has it!_

            Feeling the stab of Randall's gun on the small of her back, Lara kept walking until she reached the car door.  Sam reached the opposite car door at the same time.

            _If we don't time this perfectly, someone is going to get shot_, thought Lara.  Her entire body tensed as she reached for the door handle.

            She and Sam opened their respective doors.  Lara saw Sam stoop as if to get in the vehicle.  Then Sam's hand became a quick blur of motion and Lara took that as the signal to make her own attack.

            The Swiss army knife was designed to be a tool, not a weapon, and it was never meant to be thrown.  In most people's hands, using a Swiss army knife as a throwing knife would be more likely to result in injury to the thrower than to anything he was aiming at.  Sam, however, was very skilled at throwing knives.  The knife buried itself into John's stomach.  Before he could even double over in pain, Sam had reached him and disarmed him and began to pummel him with his fists.

            Lara was weaponless, but Randall was so close to her that she didn't need any.  She spun around and kicked out with her foot, connecting with Randall's gun hand.  The M16 loudly expelled several rounds as it flew from his hand.

            Lara used the momentum from her kick to bring her upper body around, and swung a punch with devastating speed at Randall's head.

            Randall was even quicker than she thought.  He parried the blow and smashed his own ham-sized fist into her stomach.

            Lara's vision wavered for a moment as she struggled to get her breath back.  Randall got his hands around her neck and lifted her off of the ground, strangling her.  Lara directed a sharp kick at the brute's knee, and while it had to hurt him, it didn't cause him to loosen his grip any.

            Sam's fight was nearly over.  Despite the knife wound in his abdomen, John had managed to put up a decent fight.  He was an excellent martial artist, but Sam had gained the upper hand, and after a powerful blow to his face, John slipped limply to the decaying leaves on the forest floor.

            Seeing the trouble that Lara was in, Sam vaulted over the trunk of the car and attacked Randall from behind.  He sent a sharp punch to his kidneys, causing Randall to bellow and release Lara with one hand.  He swung that arm around and backhanded Sam across the face.  Sam felt as though someone had just thrown a cinder block at his head.

            Lara was now only in the grip of one of Randall's hands and could breathe again, so she focused all of her efforts on freeing herself from it.  But in spite of all of her struggles, his hand around her neck seemed to be cast in stone.  _What kind of monster is this guy? _Lara wondered frantically.

            Blood was pouring out of Sam's nose, and he was sure that several of his teeth were loose, but he ignored that for the moment.  Randall had returned his attention to Lara, so he struck again.  This time he landed a blow in his side, just beneath the arm he was using to hold Lara up.  His grip on Lara's neck reflexively loosened for just a moment, and Lara managed to tear his hand off of her neck.  She fell to the ground in a heap.

            This outraged Randall, and he turned to face Sam.  Sam dodged his first punches and retaliated, scoring several strong hits to Randall's upper body.  The blows didn't even slow him.  Randall threw his elbow into Sam's solar plexus, and followed that up with a vicious kick that sent him sprawling.

            Lara watched this battle while lying on the ground where she had fallen.  Between her and Sam, they had landed enough blows on Randall to cripple most men.  Yet he refused to go down.  Now she saw Randall pull his leg back to deliver a kick to Sam's prone form.  Lara took advantage of the small opening.  She lashed out with her foot, catching Randall in the back of the knee and knocking him off balance.  His massive form teetered backwards.  As he came down, his head smashed into the corner of the open car door.  His head snapped back, and he fell to the ground next to Lara, unconscious.

            Lara and Sam lay still for a few moments, relishing their ability breathing.  Sam eventually got up, staggered over to Lara, and helped her to her feet.

            Lara looked down at the enormous bulk of Randall.  A thin stream of blood trickled from his temple where he had hit his head on the car door.

            "That was like trying to take down a wild elephant," Sam wheezed.

            "I'm glad I knocked him out with my first blow last night," Lara said.  "If I had missed, he would have pulverized me."

            "Now I believe that John was telling the truth about him killing a tiger barehanded," Sam said.

            Lara and Sam assessed the damage incurred on their bodies during the fight.  Lara's neck showed bruises where Randall had tried strangling her.  Sam's bloody nose made his injuries appear worse than they were, but his face would be mottled with bruises for quite a while.  Luckily, there didn't seem to be any permanent damage.

            After recovering the keys and the weapons, Lara and Sam returned to the car.  Sam took the driver's seat, but made no move to put the car into gear.

            "Well, Lara," he said, "what are we going to do now?"

            "You're going to learn everything you can about Alex and his minions, and I'm going to get that codex back before that Mayan can perform the ritual," she answered.

            "So you do think that the ritual is real?" he asked.

            "I don't know what to think, but I'm not going to take any chances," she responded.

            "How are you going to get it back?" Sam asked.  "You can't just walk into their camp and grab the thing.  There are too many of them."

            "I know.  I'm going to have to ambush them where they least expect it."

            "And where is that?"

            "The Temple of Kinich Ahau."

            Sam stared at her.  "Lara, you're not even certain about the temple's location.  Now you want to go on a solo expedition into the jungles of Guatemala to try to beat them there?  That's crazy."

            "It has to be done.  I can hire a helicopter to fly me out to the approximate location of the temple.  I'll see if I can spot it from the air.  If not, well, I'll figure something out when I get there."

            "I can't let you go into the middle of the rain forest alone to face a group of maniacal gun-toting pseudo-archaeologists," Sam said firmly.

            "You can't come with me, Sam.  I need you here.  You have to dig up any information you can about Alex.  And someone has to stay alive who knows that the altar room of Chac is still buried at Panichi.  If we fail at everything else, at least we can give that one last thing back to Mason and the others."

            Sam sighed.  "Well, I suppose I can't really stop you.  Where am I going to find information about Alex?"

            "Mason said that he worked for the Denver Museum of History and Science.  You can start asking questions there.  And take one of the rifles.  You may need it."

            "All right," he said.  "I'm going to need a radio to contact you out there."

            "No, you won't," Lara told him.  She reached into her pack and rummaged around for a moment before withdrawing a pair of satellite phones.

            "With these phones we can communicate privately from anywhere on earth," she told him.  She gave him one of the small portable telephones.

            Sam took it and put it in his pocket.  "Well, I suppose that's it then."  He chuckled.  "I guess your relaxing holiday in Cancun is pretty much shot, huh?"

            "Yeah, I always end up working on my vacations.  Now let's move."

                                                            *          *          *

            The hurricane entered the Caribbean Sea at noon.  The projected course indicated that the hurricane would pass south of most of the major islands and north of the South American coast.  But this storm was so powerful that even land at its fringes was ravaged.  Tide surges on the Virgin Islands swept dozens of houses out to sea.  Flooding in Venezuela washed away vast stretches of farmland.  But these losses were small compared to the devastation wrought upon the islands.  Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, and Saint Lucia were hardest hit.  Winds were reported at over a hundred and fifty miles per hour.  Entire neighborhoods were leveled by the sea and wind.  Trees snapped and flew as if they were toothpicks.  The hurricane fell upon these tropical paradises, scoured them, and left them as defaced remnants of their former selves.  And the hurricane continued its relentless march across the sea.

                                                            *          *          *

            Lara looked out the tiny helicopter's window, her eyes searching the treetops below her for anything out of the ordinary.

            _Anything_, she thought desperately.  After flying over the point north of the junction of the Usumacinta and Pasión rivers and west of Lake Petén Ítza, Lara had ordered her pilot to start a wide spiraling pattern and search for anything unusual in the trees below.  It was a futile quest.  Spread out below her in all direction was a featureless carpet of green, the top of the rain forest canopy.  In many places the trees could grow over seventy meters high.  An entire city could be hidden beneath that veil of leaves and branches and she may never see it.

            "_Señorita_, we need go back," her pilot shouted at her in broken English over the noise of the aircraft.  "_Nada_ fuel!"

            Lara's mouth tightened stubbornly, but she nodded at the man, giving him her assent.  He returned his attention to his controls gratefully.  He had already requested that they turn back twice.  They would probably be running on gas fumes by the time they made it back to the small grass strip airport where they had taken off.

            The helicopter banked around and headed north.  Lara noted their position on her GPS so tomorrow they could pick up their search where they had left off.  She was certain that her pilot would agree to take her up again.  She had paid him more than he usually made in a year.

            Lara fought off her disappointment.  In all likelihood, it would take Alex just as long to locate the site as it took her, so if they got an early start tomorrow, she could still probably beat him there.  She just had to keep looking.

            The sun hung halfway down in the late-afternoon sky.  Lara hoped Sam had accomplished more in that time than she had.  After dropping her off at the tiny airport, he had driven off to find a place to hole up until the police stopped looking for them.  Then he was going to start making some telephone calls.  With a little luck, they would soon know everything there was to know about Alex Gordon.

            Lara leaned forward abruptly.  In the distance she could see something that looked like smoke rising out of the rain forest.  The haze shimmered in the sunlight as it drifted up through the trees.

            "What is that?" Lara shouted at her pilot.

            He looked where she was pointing.  "_No sé_."

            He altered their course slightly so they would pass closer to it.  The smoke was rising from several different locations spread out over a few dozen acres.  As the haze got closer, Lara decided that it was not smoke.  It wasn't nearly thick enough.  In fact, Lara believed that it could only be steam.

            But that didn't make any sense.  Why would steam be billowing up from a few different spots spread out over several acres of rain forest?  It couldn't be man-made.  There wasn't a human settlement for nearly eighty kilometers.

            Lara considered the possibility that it might be coming from steam vents in a volcano.  But they were still in the lowlands.  The volcanic activity centers along the Pacific coastline were over a hundred kilometers away.  There shouldn't be any major geological activity around here.

            They passed within a few hundred meters of one of the columns of steam.  Lara noted their position on her GPS.

            Now she had to make a decision.  Should she investigate the source of this steam in hopes that it would lead her to the Temple of Kinich Ahau, or should she continue back to the airfield and begin her search again tomorrow?  While steam rising out of the middle of the rain forest was unusual, it certainly didn't mean that it had anything to do with her current problem.  On the other hand, if they _were _connected, she would be passing up the opportunity to beat Alex and Uaxahpu to the ruins.  Everything depended on her making the correct decision right now.

            _Well_, Lara thought, _these are the kinds of choices you get stuck with when you live your life on the flip of a coin._

            "I want to land as close to that place as possible," Lara shouted at her pilot while pointing back at the steaming jungle.

            The pilot nodded.  They had discussed this earlier.  There was no way the helicopter could actually land in jungle like this.  Lara would have to jump out of the aircraft.  And she couldn't jump out into the canopy of a seventy-meter tall tree, either.  Clearings large enough to land in were extremely rare this deep in the jungle.  The only place that would be clear enough for the helicopter to get close to the ground would be over a body of water.  Lara could only hope that they would find a lake or cenote nearby.  Otherwise it was going to be a very long walk.

            The helicopter flew its course while its two occupants studied the landscape below them for any break in the treetops.  As the minutes dragged on, Lara began to worry.  By now they were dozens of kilometers from the columns of steam they had seen.  Trekking through the rain forest, that translated into a long journey back.

            The pilot cried out in Spanish.  Lara turned to see him pointing to an oval-shaped opening about forty meters across in the canopies of the trees ahead.  The pilot slowed the aircraft and descended into the gap.

            Lara made her way toward the door of the helicopter and opened it.  Looking down, she saw that they were now about forty meters above a pool of water, probably a cenote.  She also noted that the gap narrowed as it went down, as the shorter forms of jungle plant life fought for some of the precious sunlight that filtered down here.

            When the helicopter was still fifteen meters above the water, the pilot called out that he could descend no further without risking a crash.  Lara quickly gathered her gear and approached the door once more.

            Lara crouched, then hopped just enough to clear the small aircraft.  She hit the water feet first and began swimming toward the surface as soon as the water had slowed her fall.  When she broke the surface of the pool, she started making her way toward the edge of the cenote.  A lot of undesirable things lived in the waters of the rain forest, and Lara didn't want to fall on the menu of any of them.

            When she reached the shore, she walked as far as she could before the jungle became impassable.  She looked up and saw the helicopter rising above the treetops.

            Lara reached a hand into her dripping pack and pulled out her satellite phone.  It was dry, since her pack was completely waterproof.  She dialed a number and heard it ring a few times before it was answered.

            "Yes?  You oh-kay?" came the voice of her pilot.  She had given him the same type of phone that she and Sam had, so she could contact him when she needed to.

            "I'm fine.  Remember to keep your phone handy.  I'll call when I'm ready for you to come back for me."

            "_Sí.  _I wait for call."

            "Good.  _Adios_."

            "_Adios_."

            Lara heard the click of the pilot disconnecting.  She stowed her phone back in her pack.  She pulled out a machete and began hacking at the thick foliage that blocked her path.  She was soon drenched in sweat, but she pressed on, determined to make it through the dense foliage before nightfall.

                                                            *          *          *

            _This is insane_, Sam thought, staring at the crowds of people surrounding the airport.  _I just escaped this place this morning, and now I'm going to go right back in._

            Crazy as it was, he had decided that it was his only choice.  It had taken him only a few minutes of Internet time to discover what he needed to know about the Denver Museum of History and Science, Alex's employer, and the only person he could turn to for help at this point was inside this airport.

            _He'll either help me or kill me_, he thought grimly as he walked through the airport doors.  He pulled the _sombrero_ that he had bought from a street vendor a couple of hours ago even lower on his forehead.  No one took any notice of him.

            He began his search of the airport terminal, attempting to examine the face of every person in the room.  Swear poured down his face, but he didn't dare take off the hat.  He felt as though every eye in the room was on him.  In truth, a few people were staring at him, but only because he looked so ridiculous wearing the giant _sombrero_.

            _I would much rather be dodging traps in an ancient tomb than deal with all of this criminal pressure_, he thought unhappily.  _I wish had never heard of the Codex of Kinich Ahau's Fury._

            He came to an abrupt halt when he spotted the archaeology team.  All of the professors and students had camped out at the edge of the terminal.  They too were stuck in Mexico, along with all of the tourists and residents who had been too slow in purchasing their tickets.  The archeologists were far better off than most of the other people in the terminal, though.  They still had all of the gear they had been using at the excavation site.  While everyone else had to stand or lie on the hard floor, the archaeologists were resting on the sleeping bags they had been using for the last few weeks. 

            Moving carefully to avoid being recognized by any of his colleagues (_Former colleagues now_, he thought) he approached the man he was looking for, who was standing a short distance away from the others, staring at the floor tiles.

            Sam came up behind him and gripped his arm tightly, pulling him along with him, away from the others.  The man struggled against him and turned to him angrily to ask him just what the hell he thought he was doing, and then recognized him.

            For one heart-stopping moment, Sam was afraid that Mason would shout for a guard.  Then Mason silently fell into step beside him.

            They walked side by side through the terminal for a few minutes, both of them thinking about what to say.  Sam opened and closed his mouth a few times, struggling to find the right words.  If he screwed this up, he would have no second chance.

            "If you're going to say something then spit it out," Mason growled.  "And take off that bloody hat.  You look ridiculous."

            Sam decided to ignore the comment about the hat and to just say what he had come here to say.

            "Mason, I need your help.  Don't say anything yet," Sam said, seeing the fury rising to Mason's face.  "Just hear me out, okay?"

            "Hear you out?" Mason asked incredulously.  "Hear you _out?_  You break our contract with the museum, destroy the dig we've worked on and sweated over for weeks, and make me look like a fool, and now you want me to help you?  I should call security over here right now and end this mess."

            "Then why don't you?" Sam shot back.  Mason stared back silently.

            "Look, Mason," Sam said desperately, "you have to have faith in me.  In all of the time that you have known me, have I ever done anything like this?  I did not destroy those artifacts on purpose.  You know that Lara and I live and breathe history.  What happened at the dig was something we could never have foreseen, something _no one_ could have foreseen.  If Alex's men had gone in that temple to get the codex, the same thing would have happened to them.  Only they would probably have died, and the codex would have been lost with them.  At least we saved _that._"

            "Wait a minute," said Mason.  "What do you mean you saved the codex?  You have it?"

            "No.  Alex has it now.  He found us and took it."

            "That's impossible," Mason said.  He appeared confused.  "Alex never mentioned anything about finding you or the codex before he left."

            "Left?  When did he leave?" Sam asked anxiously.

            "His entire group packed their tents up and left the dig site right before we did early this morning.  He's probably trying to get a flight back to Denver right now."  Mason's face began to redden with anger again.  "What are trying to do, Sam?  Pass the blame for this mess onto Alex?  Why should I even believe that you found the codex?"  Mason began walking away.  "I'm going to find the nearest security guard and tell him to arrest you.  If I were you, I would start running."

            "Mason, wait, don't!"  Sam hurried after Mason and grabbed his shoulder.  Mason pulled away and continued walking.

            "Damn it, Mason!  Just think for a moment!  When Alex showed up at our dig, we both knew that something was wrong.  Remember all of that money that he paid to take over the dig?  Don't you wonder where it came from?"  Mason had stopped walking and was listening to Sam again.  "Have you forgotten about all of the firearms that his men had?  I don't think Alex is an archaeologist, Mason.  And I _know_ that he isn't heading for Denver."

            And then Sam proceeded to tell Mason what he had learned about the Denver Museum of History and Science and Alex Gordon.  As he spoke, Mason's eyes grew wider and wider.

                                                            *          *          *

            Lara's body glistened in the light of her lantern.  Sweat was streaming down her face from the combination of her brisk pace and the humid air.  She stepped carefully but quickly over the vegetation in her path.

            Darkness falls quickly in the rain forest, so by the time Lara had made her way through the thick foliage surrounding the cenote to the much clearer terrain beneath the tall tropical trees, she had barely been able to see five meters in front of her.  She had planned for this, and had brought an electric lantern.  With nearly thirty kilometers of forest between her and her destination, she had decided to cover as much ground as she could before sleeping.

            The strenuously paced hike, coupled with the weight of the equipment she was carrying, was beginning to wear on her.  She wished that she hadn't brought the heavy M16 along.  She was perfectly lethal with her pistols, and the large gun was just slowing her down.  She decided against tossing it, though.  If Alex beat her to the site, she might need it.

            Lara's thoughts drifted away from her small arsenal and focused on the surrounding forest.  While her vision was limited to only a dozen meters or so in the lamplight, she could here the sounds of the frenzied activity of the forest's natural inhabitants coming from every direction.  The ceaseless wars of nature were being played out in the gloom surrounding her.  The animals seemed to pay little attention to her passage through them.  And despite Lara's concentration upon the noises of the jungle, she never heard her stalkers until they struck.

            Lara's body was rammed from behind, throwing her to the ground and knocking the wind out of her.  She struggled to breathe as something massive pressed down on her back, pinning her.  Her hands, which she had instinctively put out in front of her when she fell, were now trapped beneath her body, leaving her unable to draw her pistols.

            From behind her, Lara heard an inhuman shriek that made her skin crawl.  Her rational mind told her the truth of what was happening, but her imagination conjured up visions of specters and demons.

            Lara was jerked back as the jaguar pulled at her pack.  With its paws pressing firmly against her lower back and its teeth tearing away at her pack, it twisted Lara's body into a vicious arc.  She could feel its hot, rancid breath on the back of her neck as it struggled to rip the pack off of its straps.

            Lights danced in Lara's eyes every time the beast jerked back on her body, sending another spike of pain through her back and causing the pack's straps to dig deeper into her skin.  She gritted her teeth and continued to struggle against the giant cat.  While each tug was another flash of pain, it was also another chance to work her hands free.

            Lara heard a roar from in front of her and saw another jaguar leaping out of the foliage.  Its eyes locked onto hers and it crouched, preparing to join the assault.

            Lara saw the second cat's muscles tense as it prepared to pounce when she finally managed to pull one of her hands free.  There was no time for thought, only action.  Her hand flew to her holster as the cat leaped.

            The jaguar's claws reached for her head as she brought her gun to bear on it.  The cat slashed at her arm the same moment she pulled the trigger.  The bullets tore through the beast's chest, and hair and blood flew everywhere.  The cat collapsed to the ground, its paws still twitching.

            The jaguar that was holding her down was surprised by the gunshots.  But instead of running away as Lara had expected it would, the animal became enraged.  It released her pack and reared back, snarling, as it belatedly decided to strike at her exposed neck.  Lara never gave it the chance.  Twisting around as far she could, she brought her pistol around and planted it right in the cat's mouth before squeezing the trigger.  The back of the jaguar's head blew apart, and it slumped down on top of her and went still.

            Lara lay there beneath the dead jaguar for a moment, breathing hard.  When her heart rate had slowed to a more reasonable level, she pulled herself out from under the enormous weight of the great cat.

            Lara got to her feet and stood, looking at the two dead jaguars, trying to make sense of the last twenty seconds.  The animals hadn't appeared starved or rabid, and jaguars were not known for attacking humans.  What, then, had possessed them to attack her?

            _Possessed._  The word crackled through her mind, and elicited another memory, one unsettling enough to send a shiver up even her steel spine.  _At night, when Kinich Ahau falls below the horizon, he becomes the Jaguar Lord of the underworld._  Those had been Jennie's words when she had explained the involvement of jaguars in the legend on the stelae.

            Could Kinich Ahau have sent these beasts to destroy her?  Or had they just been wandering through the jungle and happened to spy a rather scrumptious-looking adventurer?  Lara's rationality struggled against the mounting evidence of the supernatural.

            _Could the codex be real?_ she wondered.  _Most of the artifacts I have recovered that are supposed to possess magical powers turn out to be nothing more than dusty knick-knacks.  Of course, some have turned out to be real.  But a feud between two Mayan gods?  It's impossible!_

            But as Lara surveyed the carnage at her feet, she found that the impossible seemed more and more probable.

            She decided to set up camp for the night.

                                                            *          *          *

            As soon as light began to filter down through the rain forest canopy, Lara was on the move.  She had used a first aid kit to bandage her slashed arm the night before, and after a quick inspection that morning to confirm that it was healing well, quickly put it out of her mind.  She believed that she could reach the anomaly she had spotted from the air before dark if she pushed herself hard.  It was not long before her clothes were soaked through with sweat, but she kept up her pace and watched with satisfaction as the numbers on her GPS clicked closer to her goal.

            After the experience of the previous night, Lara's senses were extremely alert.  When a shrill noise broke the natural sounds of the forest, she dropped into a crouch and drew her pistols, prepared to kill anything that moved.

            When the sound came a second time, Lara realized that it was her satellite phone ringing.

            Lara holstered her weapons and stood, mentally scolding herself for being so nervous.  She pulled the handset from her pack and pressed the TALK button.

            "Yes?" she asked, unsure of who was at the other end.

            "Glad to hear you're still breathing," Sam answered her.  "I've got some news you might find interesting, if you care to hear it."

            "Sam!  I was beginning to wonder if the authorities had caught up to you," Lara said with a smile.  "What's this news that you're so eager to tell me about?"

            "Well, I did some checking on the Denver Museum of History and Science…" Sam trailed off.

            "And?  What did you find out?"  Lara's voice betrayed her excitement.

            "It doesn't exist.  And neither does Alex Gordon."

            "I knew it!" Lara exclaimed.  "I knew Alex was a fraud!  Now if we could only find out who he really is, we might be able to fight back."

            "I already have," Sam stated.

            "How did you do that?" Lara asked, impressed.  "I would have thought that you'd need police cooperation to dig up the truth about him."

            "I did get help from the police," Sam replied.  "Interpol, actually."

            "Interpol!" Lara shouted before remembering where she was.  She paused to scan the foliage for any sign of a hungry animal that might want to investigate her outburst.  In a quieter voice she continued the conversation.  "How in the blazes did you get Interpol to help you without being tossed into prison?"

            "I had some help from Mason."  Sam continued before she asked the obvious question.  "I knew I couldn't get access to the information I needed without help, so I went looking for Mason to try to patch things up with him.  It took a little convincing, but I managed to get him to go to the police with the facts I had uncovered.  The police directed him to an agency in the Mexican government that tracks the illegal sales of ancient artifacts.  That's when we hit pay dirt.  As soon as the guys at the agency heard 'false credentials,' and 'Mayan artifacts' they contacted Interpol and gave Mason a book of photos to look at.  He picked out a picture of Alex on the very first page."  Sam paused for dramatic effect, then continued.  "It turns out that Alex Gordon's real name is Alex Carter.  And he is wanted in nine countries for the theft of national treasures and artifacts."

            Lara felt the joy of victory welling up in her chest.  Ever since she had seen the guards outside of Alex's tent she had suspected this; now she had confirmation.  Her hope for a good end to all of this was beginning to seem possible.

            "In fact," Sam went on, "Alex is believed to be the head of one of the most successful artifact smuggling rings in the world.  Mason said that everyone at the agency went nuts when he pointed out his photo."

            "I would say this is too good to be true if I hadn't already suspected it," Lara said.  "Does this mean Mason forgives us?"

            "Mason, and everyone else in the country.  The theft of ancient artifacts is considered a terrible crime in Mexico.  Mason told some reporters that you're on a one-woman quest to beat the smugglers to an ancient temple, and they were all over the story immediately.  Alex and his thugs are being blamed for the catastrophe at Panichi, and the public is demanding that they be brought to justice.  The government has formally apologized for treating us like criminals.  Hell, the President might even give us a public service award!  And it looks like I may be getting my job back.  Not bad for a day's work, huh?"

            "No," Lara replied happily, "not bad at all."  The relief she suddenly felt revitalized her.  Her good (_Well, decent_) reputation was restored and Alex had been exposed for the crook he was.  Now there was only one thing left to do.

            "I think I'm within a day's journey of the temple," Lara told Sam.  "I saw something really strange on the fly-by, and I'm heading toward it.  If I can beat Alex and his people there, I may be able to get a jump on them.  Then I can end all of this."

            "No, Lara," said Sam, "you have to turn back.  Interpol says that Alex uses a lot of the money he makes from selling artifacts to buy illegal weapons on the black market.  He has an arsenal bigger than those of most of the countries he steals from.  If you try take on those thugs by yourself, you'll be turned into hamburger."

            "I'm not going to just let them get away!" she responded angrily.  "They have to be stopped!"

            "They're not going to get away, Lara.  I've told the authorities where we believe the temple is located.  In two days the Guatemalan Army is going to send troops to protect the site.  If Alex shows up, he's going to be in for a big surprise."

            "Two days!" Lara shouted, forgetting once again that she was in the middle of a jungle.  "It can't possibly take them that long to get a few soldiers out here!  What, do they think Alex is going to take a few weeks vacation before heading out to the temple?"

            "They can't get there any sooner than that.  If they head out there any sooner, they'll be stuck at the temple during the hurricane."

            "They're afraid of a bloody storm?  What kind of army is this?" Lara demanded.

            "Lara, this storm has _everybody_ afraid.  No hurricane has ever moved this fast before.  It's expected it hit Jamaica sometime next morning, and then the Yucatan peninsula that evening.  They aren't willing to make their men weather out this storm in the middle of nowhere."

            "But what if Alex loots the temple and is gone by then?  Has anyone thought about that?"

            "He isn't going to be able to get to the temple either.  Alex is daring, but he isn't a fool.  He won't try to raid that temple until after the storm blows over."

            _Or he won't raid it at all_, Lara thought grimly.  This story had to be all over the news.  Alex would have heard about it by now.  He wouldn't risk trying to get to the temple.  She had thwarted him this time, but he was going to get away.

            Sam was still talking.  "No one is going to be out in the jungle during this storm.  Except maybe you, if you don't hurry.  You need to call your pilot and have him get you out of there, pronto."

            Lara grimaced.  They had accomplished so much, but Alex still eluded them.  But at least Uaxahpu would never be able to perform his ritual at the Temple of Kinich Ahau.  And Lara was determined to hunt them both down.  They would not be allowed to continue raping the world of its ancient treasures.

            "All right, Sam, I'll call my pilot.  I'll see you in a few hours."

            "Oh, about that, I was wondering if we could get together after all of this," he said awkwardly.  "Maybe talk about going on some more joint expeditions in the future."

            Lara grinned.  "Sorry, Sam, I work alone.  But I wouldn't mind spending some time together.  After all, I'm on holiday.  We can have dinner when we're back in Cancun."

            "Well, one out of two isn't bad," Sam said cheerfully.  "See you soon.  And be careful."

            "I will," Lara responded before punching the OFF button.  As she dialed in her pilot's number she ran over everything she had just learned in her head again.  _Amazing what a difference a single telephone call can make_, she thought.

            The phone rang nearly a dozen times before it was answered.  Finally her pilot's voice came on the line.

            "_Hola, señorita_," Lara heard the pilot say.  He sounded uncomfortable to be talking to her.

            "_Hola_," she answered.  "I'm on my way back to the cenote.  Try to be there around nine o'clock tomorrow morning."

            There was a long moment of silence at the other end.  Just when Lara began to think that they had lost their connection, he spoke.

            "Sorry, _señorita_, I can't come.  Big storm comes.  Helicopter can't fly in big storm.  Sorry."

            "Now, wait a minute," Lara demanded, but he interrupted her.

            "Sorry, _señorita_," he said again, and hung up.

            Lara stared at the phone for a moment, astonished.  How dare this man treat her like this?  When she got back to civilization, she would see to it that—

            Lara stiffened.  Someone was watching her.  She could feel it.

            She scanned the foliage around her.  Nothing moved.  She didn't see anyone or anything.  But her feeling wouldn't go away.

            She surveyed her surroundings again.  Then again.  On the third time around she spotted him.

            He was standing perfectly still and was almost completely hidden by the plants of the forest, but she could see his eyes and part of his face peering at her from the underbrush.  The wide forehead and full lips told her that he was Mayan.

            Lara opened her mouth to call out to him when men exploded from the jungle all around her.

            There were no whoops or war cries as the Mayan warriors rushed towards her.  Their bodies were covered only with loincloths and earth-tone paints that made them nearly invisible against the jungle background.  They seemed to move in total silence, as if their feet were not actually touching the ground, but instead were gliding across it on a cushion of air.  For one stunned moment, Lara just stared at them, awed by their ability to blend into nature so well.

            An instant later, her awe vanished and was replaced by dread as she noticed their two-meter long spears.  Their intentions were obvious, and Lara was not about to let them take her without a fight.

            Lara's hands flew to her guns and brought them to bear on the two nearest warriors.  She was squeezing the triggers when she was tackled from behind.  Her shots went wild and her weapons fell from her hands as she struggled with her assailant.  He obviously wasn't expecting this woman to put up much of a fight, and that overconfidence gave Lara the edge she needed.

            She jammed the heel of her boot down on the Mayan's bare foot.  His grip on her loosened as she heard him grunt.  Taking advantage of the opening, Lara shifted her weight and swung the Mayan over her head.  He hit the ground hard, and Lara didn't wait around to see if he would get back up.

            She started to run and almost impaled herself on the spear of an attacking Mayan.  She dodged at the last instant and grabbed the shaft of the spear, just managing to twist it out of the hands of her attacker.  She quickly swung it back around and caught the young warrior in the side, sending him to the ground.

            Lara took a quick look around her to assess her situation.  Her heart sank as she realized the impossibility of her predicament.

            She could see at least a dozen Mayan warriors advancing towards her.  They were approaching much more cautiously than before, now that they had seen her in action.  More appeared as she watched, and she knew that the foliage was probably hiding even more.

            Dozens of questions raced through her head.  _Who are these people?_ she wondered.  _Where did they come from?  What do they want with me?_  Of course, none of these questions were of as much immediate importance as the one that popped up most often:  _What am I going to do?_

            Lara knew she could not possibly fight all of these men at once.  Even if she managed to retrieve her guns, she did not have enough rounds to kill all of them.  And it would only take one well-thrown spear to bring her down.  With a direct confrontation ruled out, her only other option was to run.  But the Mayans had her surrounded.

            Lara knew every second she hesitated made her demise more likely, but she was unable to make a decision.  She seemed to have run out of options.  She felt icy fear grip her stomach, and for a moment her confidence wavered.  But an image of a dying yak danced through her head for an instant, and she renewed her resolve once again.  _I'm not dying without a fight_, she told herself, and her hands reflexively tightened on the shaft of her spear.  And that gave her an idea.

            It was a desperate plan, but Lara didn't pause for a moment.  She lifted her spear and charged straight at the enclosing line of Mayans.

            The men immediately went into battle stance, preparing to defend themselves against her suicidal dash.  Lara closed the gap between herself and the warriors in seconds.  She charged straight at the warrior in front of her, her spear positioned to run him through.        At the last instant before she would have gored the warrior, she dropped the tip of her spear, driving it into the ground.  Using every ounce of energy her adrenaline-flooded muscles would give her, she leaped off the ground.  She clung to the spear, which forced her body to fly over the Mayans in an arc.  She pushed off of the spear, finishing her vault over three meters beyond the circle of Mayans.  She came down hard, twisting her left ankle, but managed to maintain her balance and immediately sprinted away.  The Mayans had only been surprised for an instant and were already in pursuit.

            Lara knew even as she tore through the jungle undergrowth that she didn't stand a chance of escaping.  The Mayans were one with the forest.  They knew the layout of the land and were adept at hunting in the rain forest.  She was leaving a trail that they could follow easily.  But she would run until they brought her down.

            She felt a stinging sensation on the back of her neck.  She reached back and felt her skin.  Her fears were confirmed when her fingers came into contact with a dart sticking out of her skin.  She quickly plucked it out and threw it down, but she knew it was too late.  She could already feel the poison working on her body, but she forced herself to run on.

            The throbbing in her ankle quickly died away to a slight pain, and then faded away completely.  Though she was sure she was running hard, the trees around her seem to be moving by much more slowly.  She forced herself to go faster, but she felt like she was running through molasses.  Breathing became very difficult.  Suddenly she found herself lying on the ground, although she didn't remember falling.  She could see the feet of the Mayan warriors as they surrounded her.  Then she was flying almost a meter off the ground.  She could see the arms of the men who were carrying her, but she didn't feel the pressure of their grip on her.  Then she was unable to breath at all.  She choked, but no air flowed into her lungs.  Then she felt another stinging, this time in her chest.  But now she could no longer keep her eyes open.  She felt herself slipping into blackness.  Her last thought before the darkness enveloped her completely was, _The yak would have been proud._  Then there was nothing.

                                                            *          *          *

            Early the next morning, the hurricane struck Jamaica.  Torrential rains in the Blue Mountains caused massive landslides that buried entire villages.  The great fields of sugar cane were flattened, the bananas torn from the trees, the coffee plants drowned in the deluge.  In Kingston, seashore homes were swept into the frenzied waves of the Caribbean Sea.  Roofs tore off of houses, windows blew out, basements flooded.  People gathered in the centers of their homes, praying for their lives while the worst storm in recorded history wreaked havoc upon their country.  Had the hurricane lingered any longer, the death toll would have been astronomical, but to the relief of Jamaica's citizens, the powerful storm was traveling quickly, and the torture lasted only a few hours.  People emerged from their homes to see the devastation that had taken place while they had huddled indoors, frightened and impotent in the face of the storm.  It would take years to rebuild all that had been lost.  And the hurricane moved on, oblivious to their suffering.

                                                            *          *          *

            Lara felt as if she was back in the cenote at Panichi.  She couldn't breathe.  The dark water pressed in on her from all sides.  She was forcing her way up through the water to the surface.  She was tired and on the verge of giving up, but she knew she was almost there.  She had to keep going.  She had to keep going.

            Lara's eyes snapped open, shattering the nightmare.  She sucked in a ragged breath, relieved to discover that she could do so.  The dream had been so intense that her muscles were quivering from their imaginary exertion.  She pulled in a few more breaths, trying to relax.

            When her heart rate had fallen to a reasonable level, she started to examine her surroundings.  Her memory after being hit with the dart was spotty, but she remembered the Mayans carrying her, remembered the sting of the antidote they had injected into her chest.  Now she realized that they must have taken her back to their village, wherever it was.  She was in a small domed hut, made of tree branches woven together.  The smell of cooking meat wafted through the open doorway.  From the light that slanted in, she could tell that it was morning, so she had to have been unconscious for over twelve hours.  She was lying on some blankets that had been laid out for her on the dirt floor, opposite the door.  Other than that, the room was bare.

            Or so she thought until she heard a voice call out to her.  Startled, she turned to see a Mayan sitting up against a wall where he had been hidden by the shadows.  He wore a long red loincloth and several necklaces of precious stones around his neck.  His face had the leathery appearance that comes from living one's life outdoors.  His rough life had aged his features, but his strong body made it obvious that he was still in his prime.  Lara knew instinctively that this must be the tribe's chief.

            He spoke again in a tongue Lara could not understand, frustrating her.  She had a million questions to ask, but they couldn't even talk to each other.  She eyed the door, wondering if she should just make a run for it while she had a chance.  The throbbing in her ankle was almost gone, and her strength was returning.  But for all she knew, there guards posted on either side of the doorway.  She was going to have to find a way to communicate with this man.

            "My name is Lara Croft," she told the chieftain.  She pointed to herself, hoping he would understand.

            "My name is Chief Puah," he replied in perfect English.  "Welcome to the last Chol village in the Petén forest."

            "Where did you learn to speak English?" Lara asked in amazement.

            "My parents sent me to study law in Guatemala City when I was a boy.  They felt that the only way we could defend ourselves from the oppression of the outsiders was in the courts and media.  In college, I learned many languages.  One cannot defend himself if he cannot speak the language of his enemy."  He spoke quietly and distinctly, and his eyes never shifted from Lara's.

            "What do you want with me?" Lara asked.

            "I will tell you, but first you must answer my questions.  There are many things I must know, and time is running short."  As he said it, his eyes left Lara's for the first time and traveled to the doorway.  He gazed up at the sky as if he saw or sensed something she didn't.

            When he returned his gaze to her it seemed a little more intense, and there was an urgent quality to his voice.

            "Tell me why you are in the forest," he commanded her.

            Lara wasn't sure whether or not she should trust him with the truth.  After all, she had just been poisoned and brought to this place against her will.  And the stele had said that the Chol Maya had fought on the side of Kinich Ahau.  Would they want the ritual to be performed, or would they help her stop Uaxahpu?  All of the facts seemed to tell her that these people were her enemies.  But for some reason, she trusted this man.  So she decided to be honest.

            "I need to find the Temple of Kinich Ahau," she answered him.

            "Why do you need to find the temple?"

            "I must stop a man from using the Codex of Kinich Ahau's Fury."  Lara held her breath as she waited to see whether or not she had just ordered her own execution.

            Puah's eyes closed.  He began to rock back and forth, and Lara could see his lips move as he murmured to himself quietly.  After a moment he straightened up and opened his eyes.

            "Chac said it was happening.  He said someone was going to try to do it."  He was talking to himself more than Lara.  His eyes were unfocused, as if he were gazing into the distance.  "We cannot let the ritual be performed.  We have been fools in the past, but we must do what is right this time."  His eyes snapped back into focus and he leaned forward.  "Tell me what has happened," he demanded.  "Tell me everything."

            And Lara told him.  She told him everything that had happened since Mason's phone call to her at the airport.  She told him about the stele, about Alex, about the Temple of Chac, and about Uaxahpu.  She covered everything up to her battle with the Chol warriors.  Puah listened silently as she spoke, his only movement the blinking of his eyes.

            When Lara finished, Puah remained quiet for a few minutes as he digested what she had told him.

            "Our people have made grievous errors," he said finally.  The intensity that had filled him earlier was gone.  Now his words were more subdued.  "I must tell you of the history of the Chol," he said, and proceeded to recount it to her as she listened attentively.

            "The Chol have lived in the forest here since the beginning of time.  We have always been in a constant struggle with the forest to survive.  Everyday has been another battle fought with the jungle.  However, the one thing we have always had plenty of is rain.  Even in the years when our brethren to the north died of famine brought on by drought, Chac was kind to us, and our wells always had water.  And when a person never has to worry about something, he takes it for granted.  So when the Great Chol Chieftain Muaxix told our ancestors that Kinich Ahau had ordered him to perform a ritual that had the power to stop the rains from falling to the earth, they did not believe him.  Muaxix told them that he needed a warrior to sacrifice in the ritual, and like blind men they followed him into war, and paid deeply for it.  Chac sent his hurricane to destroy our army, and Muaxix was killed.  The Yucatan Chieftain, Muxhautl, led his army to the city of Cholenque and slaughtered its inhabitants.  Then they left, taking the Codex of Kinich Ahau's Fury with them.  The Yucatan Maya were afraid to destroy the codex and incur Kinich Ahau's wrath.  So they sealed it away, since no man could ever be trusted with such power.

            "But even Muxhautl could not hide away the legend of the codex.  And the story of the codex has been passed down to each generation of the Chol.  Most of the Chol leaders realized that we had been foolish to listen to Muaxix.  But some men…" Puah trailed off and gazed out the door of the hut again.  "Some men," he said quietly, "thought differently.  They heard the legend of the power of the codex and wanted that power.  And some of them would have used it if they had ever been able to find it.  One of those men was my brother."  He returned his gaze to Lara.  "My brother's name is Uaxahpu."

            He paused a moment before going on.  "My father used to be the chieftain of this tribe.  Our tribe had always operated separately from the rest of Guatemala, but recently the government has tried to make us conform.  It wants us to pay taxes, even though we don't use money.  It wants to draft our warriors to fight in its army, even though we have no interest in world affairs.  This was not the way of life our tribe wanted.  So my father sent me to Guatemala City to learn law and defend our people.  And I did.  But while I was gone, my father died.  I was his oldest son and was supposed to take his place.  In my absence, my brother became the leader of the tribe.  My brother had always hated white men for being wealthy and powerful.  He wanted to avenge the deaths of our ancestors who were killed by the Europeans centuries ago.  And he believed that the only way to do this was to use the Codex of Kinich Ahau's Fury.  He ordered our tribesmen to clear away the vegetation that had grown over the city of Cholenque.  He had them repair the damage to the main temple.  He killed anyone who spoke against him.  Once again, the Chol were following the orders of a mad man.

            "I did not learn of any of this until I returned from the city.  I did not want to throw my brother out of the tribe, so I tried to reason with him.  I told him that if the rain stopped, our tribe would die along with everyone else.  I told him that the men who had caused our ancestors so much pain were already dead.  But you cannot reason with a mad man.  In the end I was forced to expel Uaxahpu from our tribe.  That was several years ago, and I have not seen him since.  But I have heard tales from other Mayan tribes that a group of people has been asking questions about the codex.  Several tribesmen have disappeared.  I have often wondered whether Uaxahpu might be behind these disturbances."

            Lara nodded slowly.  It made sense.  Uaxahpu had obtained Alex's help in his search by promising him the treasures of the city.  Now that he had the codex, he would go straight to the temple.

            _And Uaxahpu knows exactly where the temple is_, thought Lara.  _He isn't going to let a hurricane stop him from reaching it, either._

            "You have to take me to the temple immediately," Lara said as she stood up, ignoring the pain in her ankle.  "Uaxahpu might already have led Alex and his men there.  We can't let them get away with the treasures of the temple.  We have to beat them there."

            Puah was shaking his head.  "Alas," he said, "it is too late.  They are already there.  There is a small clearing just over a kilometer from the site.  Uaxahpu knew of this, and had Alex land there.  They have been loading artifacts onto the helicopters since last night."

            Lara grimaced.  If she had spotted that clearing from the sky, she could have avoided this whole mess.

            "Well," she said, "we can still try to stop them.  If we can disable their helicopters they won't be able to get away."

            "Why would we do that?" Puah asked, a look of disbelief on his face.  "We want them to go away.  They can only perform the ritual at the temple."

            "But they'll get away with all of the treasures!" Lara cried.

            "Yes," said Puah, "and it will be a great loss for our people.  But the important thing is to stop Uaxahpu from performing the ritual."  He narrowed his eyes at Lara.  "You don't believe in the power of the codex, do you?"

            "No, I don't," she said, although she wasn't really sure whether she did or not.

            "But I thought…" Puah seemed confused.  "Chac told me that he was sending us a warrior to fight in his name.  Are you not that warrior?" He squinted at her.  "Hasn't Chac spoken to you?"

            Lara felt cold inside.  _It was just a dream_, she told herself.  _The Mayan gods don't exist.  They can't be real._  And yet there had been so many remarkable coincidences over the last few days.  Nothing that couldn't be contributed to mere chance, but it was still unsettling.  _Maybe_, thought Lara, _I should give Chac the benefit of the doubt for now._

            Puah continued stare at her.  Lara never answered his question, but after a moment he relaxed.

            "Yes," he said, "You are Chac's warrior.  You do not want to admit it, but Chac has spoken to you.  You are the one who must help us stop Uaxahpu."

            Lara decided not argue the point, since Puah seemed to be prepared to help her now.

            "I will send one of my warriors to escort you to Cholenque.  Once you are there, you must find the codex and destroy it.  You must be careful.  The Temple of Kinich Ahau is well protected, and thanks to Uaxahpu, it has been restored to its original condition.  He knows that temple better than anyone.  You must be careful if you follow him into it."

            "Wait a minute," Lara said angrily, "Aren't your warriors going to help?  Alex has his own little army out there!"

            "We will attack, but not until Chac tells us to."  Lara opened her mouth to protest, but Puah raised his hand to stop her.  "Chac told me that it must be done this way.  I don't know why, but I am just a man.  It is not my place to question a god.  You must go first.  We will follow when we are told to do so."

            Lara realized there was no point to arguing.  Someone was going to take her to the city, and that was all that she needed.  She had taken on many challenges on her own before, and had come through them all right.  This one would be no different.

            Puah led Lara through the doorway, allowing her to see the Chol village for the first time.  The Mayans had cleared out the vegetation on about an acre of land.  Scattered across the land were more of the small domed huts.  Animals roasted over a few fire pits tended to by women.  A few warriors stood at the edge of the cleared ground, apparently on sentry duty.  Several people looked at her in awe when she appeared.  _I hope I can live up to their expectations_, Lara thought grimly.

            A young warrior approached them.  He was carrying Lara's pistols and the M16.  Feeling the weight of the pistols resting snugly in their holsters once again boosted Lara's confidence.  She hung the M16 across her back on its strap.

            Puah spoke a few words to the warrior in Chol and then turned back to Lara.

            "He will lead you to Cholenque.  Remember your mission.  The Codex of Kinich Ahau's Fury must be destroyed.  May Chac watch over you."

            With that he turned and strode away.

            Lara gestured to her guide to lead the way.  As she followed him into the jungle, she wondered if Puah really intended to help her.

            She put the question out of her mind.  She had more important things to worry about.

                                                            *          *          *

            To the relief of many people (and to the horror of others) the hurricane's course changed.  Meteorologists who had plotted its course since its formation were baffled.  The storm's radical change in direction meant that Cancun and the other cities on the northern tip of the Yucatan would experience nothing more deadly than heavy rainfall.  The tourists and vacationers had been pardoned.  But now it appeared that the unprepared nations of Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras would be hit hardest.  People were evacuated from coastal areas and moved to public shelters.  The countries' armed forces were put on alert and readied themselves to deal with the aftermath of the hurricane.  And when they had done everything that they could, they waited—and prayed that they would survive the onslaught of the worst storm in history.  Then the storm hit the Atlantic coastline, and chaos reigned.

                                                            *          *          *

            Lara smelled the city long before she reached it.  She had been eating some of the rations in her pack when she noticed a peculiar rotten smell.  At first she thought her food had spoiled, but when the smell intensified as she and her guide advanced through the rain forest, she realized that it was coming from somewhere else.  She tried to ask the young Mayan warrior about the smell, but he only spoke Chol.  It wasn't until she nearly boiled herself alive that she realized what the smell was.

            The guide had been moving at such a quick pace that Lara had had to focus all of her attention just on keeping up with him.  Lara had been following him so closely that she was unprepared when the Mayan made a sudden turn, and she stumbled.  She tripped over a tree root and crashed through a giant fern.  She grabbed a frond and managed to keep herself from falling to the ground.  Once she had regained her footing, she was assaulted by a wave of hot humid air.  Pushing aside a few ferns, she saw the source of the heat.

            It was a nearly circular pool of water.  But to Lara's initial amazement, the water had a dark pink tinge.  Steam was rising off of the surface of the pool and ascending into the rain forest canopy in a long hazy ribbon.  Even from where she was standing Lara could feel the heat emanating from the pool.  And she could smell it, too, and now she could place the smell.

            _Sulfur_, Lara thought.  _I'm standing on a geological hot spot._

            Now Lara understood the large amounts of steam she had seen rising from the treetops on her fly-by.  This part of the forest wasn't on top of the same limestone slab as the rest of the peninsula.  Here, the earth's incredibly hot mantle was close to the surface.  However, instead of forcing its way to the surface in the form of a volcano, the magma heated the area's underground water veins.  Just like at Yellowstone National Park in America and a few other isolated spots around the world, the heated water made its way to the surface in the form of geysers and beautiful hot springs like the one she had nearly fallen into.

            _Beautiful but deadly_, Lara thought.  _If I hadn't caught myself, my skin would have melted off before I even realized what was happening._

            And the implications became even worse.  If the city of Cholenque was close to this hot spot, it had to be there for a reason.  The stench of the sulfur and the constant struggle against the untamable forces beneath the earth's crust should have discouraged the Chol from building near it.  They had to have seen an advantage to living near such a volatile place.  And Lara bet she knew what that advantage had been.

            Just as the Yucatan Maya of the north had harnessed the power of the underwater rivers to keep their traps operational for hundreds of years, Lara was certain that the Chol had learned to harness the power of steam for their own use.

            Puah had said that the temple would be well protected, and Lara did not doubt it.  Coupling the ingenuity of the Maya with the power of the inner earth could result in any number of possible traps.

            Lara's guide was suddenly at her side, gibbering in Chol.  Lara assumed he was asking her if she was okay, and she did her best to assuage his fears.  The warrior reassumed his lead position and they continued on their way, although at a much slower pace than before.  Lara resented him for being, at least as far as she was concerned, overly cautious, but, at the same time, she was no longer so eager to reach their destination.  She was beginning to get an idea of what would be in store for her when she arrived, and she didn't think she was going to like it.

            So she had mixed feelings when they reached the city fifteen minutes later.

                                                            *          *          *

            Her guide motioned for her to be quiet, and crept slowly through the foliage.  Lara followed him closely.  She felt nervousness tickle her belly and was glad; the adrenaline would come in handy.

            After a covering a few dozen meters this way, the Mayan came to stop.  He pushed a few branches aside and motioned to Lara to look between them.  She complied.

            Only a meter ahead of them, the dense jungle growth ended.  Although the foliage obstructed much of the view, Lara could still see a considerable amount of the city.  Enough to see what she was up against.

            Ahead of her was a clearing covering at least fifteen acres.  In just the few years since Uaxahpu had forced the Chol to clear away the vegetation that had overgrown Cholenque, many small plants had grown up around the buildings, but the ground was still fairly clear.  The only large plants growing in the city were the trees.  Some of the monstrosities were over four meters thick.  Several had grown so close to the ruins that they had grown into them, the tree and building fused into one structure.  There were no branches on any of the trees less than fifty meters above the ground.  Lara guessed that the tops of their canopies might be as high as seventy meters.  And those canopies shielded the city from being spotted from the air.

            However, the plant life was not what held Lara's attention.  The city was far more interesting to her.  She could see at least thirty structures from her position.  Lara knew enough about the Mayans to know that these structures were all government buildings and the homes of the rich elite.  The common people had lived in wooden houses that had long since rotted away and rejoined the forest.  Many of the edifices were in shambles.  Some had given up the battle with nature and gravity and had collapsed in upon themselves.  But the overwhelming majority had withstood the test of time, as the Mayans had designed them to.  Built of the limestone that made up most of their land, they seemed to be part of the earth itself, thrusting up from the ground and clawing their way to the sky.  A crust of sulfur had formed over the exteriors of several of the buildings, but it did not detract from their splendor.  Their deteriorated but still magnificent facades seemed to shout their defiance to the elements.  They had stood here for over a thousand years, and would stand for a thousand more.

            But the grandeur of these structures could not match the majesty of the Temple of Kinich Ahau.  It was in the center of the city.  Lara guessed that the great pyramid's base covered almost two acres.  It rose steeply, the altar on its summit nearly touching the tree branches stretched out above it.  Leading up one side of the temple was a steep staircase, which had allowed the priests to reach the altar.  Extending out from the sides of the temple were two giant jaguar statues, their majestic heads arching out over five meters from their bases on the temple's roof.  Their jaws hung open in a perpetual roar, and their features were so realistic that Lara could almost believe that they were not statues at all, but were two terrible stone monsters perched upon the temple and waiting for an unwary adventurer to pass near them so they could devour her.

            The Chol had done an amazing job of restoring the temple.  Lara could see no cracks or blemishes in its facade, no coating of sulfur dulling its luster.  The blanket of leaves and branches above it kept it hidden in perpetual shadows, giving it a gloomy, almost menacing appearance.  While it could never be called beautiful, it still was an awe-inspiring sight.

            Lara's archaeological instincts urged her to go explore the ruins, but she knew she would be dead before she ever reached them if she tried.  She could see six of Alex's cohorts among the structures, and all of them were armed with automatic weapons.  Several of them were near the massive temple, where a large pile of shipping crates stood.  They were in the process of carrying the crates one by one toward a gap in the trees on the other side of the clearing.  Lara guessed that that was the path they had hacked through the rain forest from the helicopters.

            _They're carrying off the artifacts_, Lara thought angrily.  _They've already looted everything.  All they have to do is finish loading the helicopters and they can take off._

            But not if she had anything to say about it.

            Lara backed away from the gap in the foliage she had been peering through.  The Mayan warrior let the branches fall back down to cover it.

            "Thank you for your help.  I think I can handle it from here," Lara said to the warrior.

            The warrior just nodded to her and turned around.  In seconds he had disappeared into the underbrush.

            Once again, Lara was on her own, but it didn't bother her.  She knew what she had to do.

            Staying just a few meters from the clearing, Lara began to work her way around to the path that she believed led to the helicopters.  She moved slowly to avoid alerting Alex's tomb raiders of her presence.  The soft thud of her boots on the mossy forest floor seemed as loud as gunshots to her ears.  She was on edge, and she used her fear-enhanced senses to their maximum potential.

            After an interminable length of time, she began to hear the trudging footsteps and angry curses of the men hauling the crates along the path.  Lara followed their noise without crossing the path until the jungle around her began to brighten and she knew that the clearing must be near by.

            Peering through the underbrush, she saw three helicopters crowded into a small clearing.  The men who had landed the aircraft must have been very skilled pilots.  The rotors of the helicopters nearly touched the branches of the trees that surrounded them.  A slight mistake could have sent any of them crashing to the ground.

            Several men were stacking their crates in piles around the helicopters.  Others were loading them on board.  Lara watched as more men entered the clearing, bearing crates.

            As she was trying to decide upon a course of action, she heard voices approaching her hiding spot.  She froze and waited for them to pass her.  Then she recognized one of the voices.

            "...must be finished before the storm hits," Alex said to the three men who were talking with him.  They stopped right in front of Lara, believing themselves to be out everyone's earshot.

            "If we don't have all of the crates loaded before it storms, some of the artifacts are going to be damaged," Alex continued as he eyed the crates stacked around the clearing.  "The most important thing right now is to get all of the crates at the temple and bring them out here.  If the storm hits before we're finished, we can take refuge in the helicopters."

            "We're never going to finish loading everything before the storm hits," one of the men stated.  "Why don't we just leave the rest and get out of here?  We already have a fortune of artifacts in the helicopters.  If the army gets here before we can take off, we're screwed."

            "The army won't be here until well after the hurricane has gone by," answered Alex.  "Even if we get stuck here during the storm, we will still be long gone before any soldiers arrive."

            "It's not the Guatemalan Army I'm worried about," muttered another man.  "It's that damn Lara Croft.  I'm not going to feel safe as long as she is out in this jungle somewhere."

            "Miss Croft is not an issue.  This is the only place to land near the site for miles.  If she was going to fly in here, she would have to land right on top of us."

            "What about the Indian?  How much longer until he finishes that crazy ritual of his?" asked the first man.

            "I don't know, nor do I care," Alex responded.  "He says he wants to stay here and that we can leave without him.  I don't feel like trying to change his mind.  If he wants to deal with the soldiers when they arrive, that's his choice.  Any other comments about our situation?"  His tone clearly indicated that it would be in their best interest not to have any more comments.  "Good.  Tell the others to focus on moving the last of the crates to this clearing.  I'll check over the helicopters and make sure they are ready to fly when we are.  Now get moving."

            The three men quickly informed everyone in the clearing that they were to head back to the ruins for the rest of the crates.  In a few minutes, the clearing was empty of people, save for Alex.

            Lara could not believe her luck, but she waited until Alex started tinkering with the engine of one of the helicopters before leaving the protection of the underbrush.  She slowly stepped out into the clearing and sidled over to him.  He didn't even hear her until he felt the cold pressure of her pistols on the back of his neck.

            "Hello, Alex," she said cheerfully as he stiffened.  "I can see you're very busy, so I'll try to make our chat as brief as possible."

            "Hello, Miss Croft," he said calmly.  "It seems that you've been quite busy yourself since we last talked.  You're a regular workaholic."

            "I know.  I really should try to take things easier.  I wouldn't want to get an ulcer."

            Lara turned serious.  "Now it's time to answer a few questions, Alex.  Let's start with why you're helping Uaxahpu perform his ritual.  Don't you know what he is trying to do?"

            Alex laughed.  "Of course I know what he is trying to do!  He thinks that he can use that codex to stop rain from falling to the earth.  Really, Lara, I hope you don't believe that that is possible."

            "I don't know if it is or not, but I sure wouldn't help somebody find out.  What if it is true, Alex?  You and everyone else on the planet will die."

            He snorted.  "Perhaps you should take high school earth science again, Miss Croft.  The chapter on the hydrologic cycle might enlighten you.  Maybe you'd even learn that the earth is round."

            Lara knew that it was useless trying to convince Alex that there might be forces that science had no knowledge of.  Alex was rooted firmly in what he perceived as reality.  He would not change his view of the world, no matter what evidence he was shown.

            "Where is Uaxahpu?" Lara asked.

            "The last time I saw him he was in a small building across from the temple.  The Sun Shrine, I think he called it.  But he could be anywhere by now.  Is that all you want?  The codex?  I'll be happy to help you kill Uaxahpu.  He has served his purpose, and we're not very fond of each other.  I only needed him to help me find the city and show me the way through the temple to the treasures.  I don't need him anymore."

            "No, that's not all I want," Lara responded angrily.  "I also want to stop you from stealing these artifacts.  They're part of history.  They belong to the world.  You grave robbers have no right to them."

            Lara could only see the back of Alex's head, but she knew that he was smiling.  "Please, Miss Croft, isn't that like the pot calling the kettle black?"

            "What is that supposed to mean?" Lara hissed.

            "It means that you and I are one and the same."

            "How dare you—"

            "Oh, Miss Croft, please spare me from your noble speeches.  You are a tomb raider, just like I am."

            Lara gritted her teeth.  His words echoed those that Jennie had whispered in her ear as she was being led off by the police.  The wound was fresh, and the days since then had done nothing to heal it.  _I guess I care more about what other people think of me than I thought._

            Alex knew he had hit a sore point, and kept talking.  "It really isn't about the money anymore.  Most of my men are already quite wealthy, and I have enough put away that I can call it quits any time I want to and live luxuriously for the rest of my life.  At some point, we all stopped doing it for the money.  Now we do it for the sport.  I'm sure you can relate to that, can't you Miss Croft?"

            Lara heard Jennie's voice in her head:  _You are scum... You're not an archaeologist... You are nothing more than a tomb raider..._

            "After all," Alex continued, "one can not expect to live his life so dangerously and so intensely and then simply be able to walk away from that excitement when he has achieved his materialistic goals.  That's why businessmen keep putting in eighty-hour weeks after they are already billionaires.  That's why athletes will keep playing their sports until their bodies have been so abused that they can barely sleep at night through the pain.  And that's why you and I continue to hunt for artifacts after we have gained all of the money and notoriety that we could ever want.  Am I right, Miss Croft?"

            _... A thief of ancient treasures..._

            "Because we both know that it's the gut-wrenching moments, the spine-tingling thrills, that make this job so enjoyable.  It's in that instant you realize you are a step away from death that you are most alive.  Don't you think, Miss Croft?"

            _... A defiler of forgotten wisdom..._

            "That's the kind of life that everybody really wants, although most people refuse to admit it, even to themselves.  But money cannot buy that kind of life.  It cannot be duplicated.  You have to _live_ it.  And, I think you will agree, once you have lived it, you can never go back."

            _... And one day, you will lie in your own tomb, and no one will care._

            "That's really why both of us are here, isn't it, Miss Croft?  Both of us have been playing our games so long that we don't remember anything else, can't imagine doing anything else.  We've tasted what it is like to be truly alive, and we can't give it up.  We'll both go to any lengths to keep getting those thrills.  We are the same, Lara."

            "No!" Lara shouted.  She realized what she had done, and forced herself to speak quietly.  "We are not the same, Alex.  We may both like the thrills and the adventure of what we do, but we are not doing the same thing.  I seek out artifacts to learn from them, to show the world where we have been and what we have done.  You seek out artifacts to exploit them and the memories of the people who made them.  I love history, and the people who are part of that history.  You love only yourself."

            "Believe what you will, Lara.  One day you will realize that I am right."

            Lara heard the voices of Alex's approaching henchmen, returning with their crates of stolen artifacts.  It was time to move.

            "Well, Alex, I can't say that it has been a pleasure, but I really must going."

            "So soon?  I was just beginning to enjoy myself.  And to think—"

            Whatever he had been about to say was cut off by Lara's pistols, which she brought down hard on the back of his neck.  He groaned and collapsed to the ground.

            "I hate long good-byes," Lara muttered as she stole quietly back into the jungle.

                                                            *          *          *

            Lara stood at the edge of the forest again, trying to judge the distance between herself and the temple.  She guessed that it was at least three hundred meters away.  Between it and her were half a dozen other buildings in various stages of deterioration, several of the giant trees, and at least fifteen armed thugs.  She shifted her gaze to the small building that sat next to the central plaza, across from the temple.  That was where Alex had last seen Uaxahpu.  That was where she would have to go to get the codex.  And the only way to get there was to sneak past those mercenaries.

            Seeing no alternative, Lara drew her weapons, gritted her teeth, and sprinted out of the brush and into the clearing.  She felt terribly exposed. She knew that all it would take for her adventure to come to an end was for one person to glance in her direction.

            Miraculously, she made it to the first building unnoticed.  Lara leaned up against it, shielding herself from detection.  She had covered about fifty meters.  She studied the zigzag path she would travel to reach the Sun Shrine.  By running from tree to ruin to tree, she believed she could cover most of the distance in short intervals, never exposed for more than a few seconds.  The deep shadows would also help to mask her movements.  Darkness seemed to be falling very rapidly, so the thieves would have trouble seeing her.

            Unfortunately, her plans were quickly ruined.  Peering around the corner of the building, she came face to face when one of the grave robbers.  Before he could cry out a warning, Lara's pistols roared.  He fell to the ground.

            Lara was off like a shot.  She could hear the cries of the men behind her, felt the bullets whizzing past her.  She dodged around trees and bushes and rubble, trying to make herself as difficult a target to hit as possible.  Bullets slammed into the limestone ruins, buried themselves in the ground, and splashed into hot springs.

            Lara spotted people ahead of her, and again she pulled the triggers.  One man fell, the other opened fire on her.  Lara dodged to the side, and then charged straight at him.  Her shoulder connected with his chest and he was thrown backwards.  With a splash and a scream, he landed in a hot spring.  The scalding water burned through his skin in seconds.  Lara ran on.

            She knew she had to be close to the Sun Shrine, but she didn't see it.  She had lost her sense of direction, and in the deepening gloom she could not spot it.

            It started to rain.  Water poured down from the trees above her.  She could hardly see anything.  But that meant they couldn't see her, either.

            Finally, using the giant temple as a reference, she found her way over to the small building.  She considered switching from her pistols to the M16 but decided that the rifle would be overkill in the small structure.  She knew that there was no way she could enter the building silently as wet as she was, so she walked right through the arched entrance way.

            The inside of the building was bathed in the soft flickering light of ten candles placed on top of a stone table in the back of the room.  Spread out on top of the table was the Codex of Kinich Ahau's Fury.  And standing in front of it, chanting reverently, was Uaxahpu.

            He stood with his back to Lara, and acted as though he hadn't heard her come in.  He swayed back and forth slowly, his colorful robes rustling softly.  She trained her pistols on the back of his head and started walking towards him.

            When she was only a couple of meters away from him, he finished his strange incantation and turned around.  Lara knew that she was several centimeters taller than he was, but staring into his dark eyes made her feel very small in comparison.

            "Greetings, warrior of Chac," Uaxahpu said in an emotionless voice.

            "Hello, Uaxahpu.  I'm afraid I don't have time to stand around and talk right now.  I am going to have to ask you to hand over the codex."

            "Then you admit that you are Chac's warrior?" Uaxahpu asked.  Lara sensed a note of urgency in his voice.

            "If that will make you more cooperative, then yes, I am Chac's warrior.  Now give me the codex," Lara demanded.

            "Thank you, Lara.  That was all I needed to hear."  As soon as those words were spoken, Lara saw Uaxahpu's wrist twitch, and the next instant her eyes felt like they were on fire.

            Lara gasped and staggered backwards, trying to rub her eyes and hold onto her pistols at the same time.  Through the pain, she heard Uaxahpu's voice speaking to her.

            "That was Lava Powder.  It's made from the ground up roots of a very rare bush.  You should be honored that I thought it was necessary to waste some of it on you."

            She could hear him folding up the codex.  She struggled to see through her tears.

            "I have completed most of the ritual, Lara.  All I need to do is perform a few ceremonies in the temple, and Chac shall be banished for all time.  At last, my people will be avenged for the suffering the white men have put them through.  The power of the Maya will be undeniable."

            "You're... crazy," Lara managed to say.  Her throat was burning, now, too.  She wondered how long it would take for the stuff to wear off.

            Uaxahpu stared at the rain pouring in the doorway for a moment.  "You see that, Lara?  Well, no, I suppose you can't.  This storm is Chac's pitiful attempt to stop me.  I will not be stopped, Lara.  Not by Chac, and not by you.  Follow me into the temple if you dare.  But it will do you no good.  Tonight, the will of my ancestors shall be fulfilled."  Then he disappeared into the storm.

            Lara rubbed her eyes hard.  _How could I let that little nutcase do this to me?_ she asked herself angrily.  She blinked hard several more times.  Her vision was beginning to clear.  There were still tears in her eyes, but she was out of time.  She would just have to chase him like this.  She could not let him finish the ritual.

            She ran out of the building—and came to a halt.  Surrounding her in a semicircle were at least twenty of Alex's thugs.  And straight across from her was Alex himself.  He was sporting a large lump on the back of his head, but he didn't seem to be worried about it.

            "Playtime is over, Lara," he said angrily as the strengthening downpour ruined the perfect part in his hair.  "We have put up with you for long enough.  Now you're going to get what you deserve."

            Lara felt a strong gust of wind flick her braid around.  The already heavy rain began to fall even faster.  Lara could hear distant rumblings.  She struggled to stay calm.

            "Alex," she said, stalling for time, "you have to let me go.  Uaxahpu is insane.  I need to get that codex."  Now she could hear crashes and roars all around her.  Leaves and twigs flew in her face.

            "All right, Lara, if you want to believe in rituals and divine holocausts, I'll play along."  He leveled his uzi at Lara's head, fighting to keep his arm straight in the howling wind.  "It's time for you to feel Kinich Ahau's fury."

            "Actually," Lara said loudly over the shrieking of the wind, "I think you're about to get a taste of Chac's fury!"

            Then there was a flash of light and a thunderous explosion, and the sky seemed to split open.

                                                            *          *          *

            The hurricane pummeled the forest.  Trees that had stood for over half a millennium were uprooted and tossed about like match sticks.  Animals hunkered down under bushes and in caves, terrified of this storm, the likes of which none of them were prepared for.  In most places, the forest floor was relatively undisturbed.  The huge canopy that spread out over it protected it from the worst of the hurricane's fury.  But in the places where the trees toppled, the ground was left open to the storm's wrath.  Places like the lost city of Cholenque.

                                                            *          *          *

            The sky had not split open, but the shielding cover of the rain forest canopy had.  The lightning bolt had split a tree in half, and now it fell, exposing the people below to the full force of the hurricane for the first time.  The sound of snapping branches filled the air as the first giant tree in the city of Cholenque toppled.  Lara saw it falling towards her.  She leaped to the side to avoid being smashed under its great weight.  Alex's men scattered, but some did not move fast enough.  The massive trunk crashed to the ground, smashing the Sun Shrine into limestone fragments, and crunching two of the grave robbers into oblivion.

            Lara quickly got back on her feet.  She had cleared the trunk by little more than a meter.  She turned her face to the sky and stared at the opening that had appeared in the forest roof in amazement.  Impossibly, the rain was coming down even harder than before.  She could make out nothing except for the lightning bolts arching across the sky.

            She shook herself to bring herself back to reality.  She had a problem she had to deal with.

            The tree had fallen at an angle that had left Alex and most of his men on one side and her on the other.  Lara ran alongside the trunk in the direction of the temple, attempting to use it to shield herself from the thieves for as long as possible.  She would have to cover the last thirty meters in open view, and she hoped that the rain would be too heavy for them to spot her.

            She was moving at a full sprint by the time she reached the first step on the long staircase that led up the side of the temple.  Not pausing for one moment, she ran straight up the stairs.  The steps were steep and narrow as the Mayans always built them, and water was cascading down them in a small river.  One slip on the treacherous stairs would send her tumbling back to the bottom, but she had no time to be cautious.  The higher she went, the fiercer the wind became, but somehow she managed to maintain her balance.

            Her calves were burning and her throat was raw by the time she reached the top.  As she gasped for air she surveyed the summit of the temple.

            The top of the temple was a square, thirty meters to a side.  On both sides of the temple's summit stood the two giant jaguar statues, their majestic bodies stretching out far over the edges of the temple roof, their fierce features screaming defiance at the mighty storm.  The sacrificial altar was positioned in the center of the temple's peak.  Rain pounded the surface of the stone altar and ran down its sides.  The rippling effect of the water made the altar seem as if it was alive, throbbing like a heart.  Lara tore her eyes away from it.

            On the side of the temple opposite Lara was a small stone hut.  A flicker of light danced in one of the hut's glassless windows for a moment, then disappeared.  Lara ran towards it.

            She reached the hut's entrance just in time to see Uaxahpu drop into a trap door in the floor of the small room.  She dived towards it, but it closed before she could reach it.

            Lara knelt down and tried to pry the door up with her fingernails.  It wouldn't budge.  She wasn't even sure if she was pulling at the right spot.  The stone door blended in with the floor so well that she could no longer remember exactly where it had been.  Frustrated, she beat the floor with her fists.

            She heard a scraping noise come from behind her and spun around.  Another trap door had sprung open behind her.

            Lara drew her pistols and crawled toward the open pit.  When she reached the lip of the hole, she poked her head out over it just far enough to get a glimpse of what lay below.  Darkness stared up at her.  She lit a flare and dropped it in.  It hit the ground three meters down.  Now Lara could see handholds carved into one of the walls of the opening.  Down below, a tunnel led off into the depths of the temple.

            _He wants me to come in_, Lara thought.  She remembered Puah's warning about how well his brother knew the secrets of the temple.  _He's leading me into a trap.  This is suicide.  But what other choice do I have?_

            Lara lit another flare and climbed down the stone ladder.  When she stood at the bottom, she held the flare up high and looked down the tunnel.  It sloped downward and seemed to have a slight curve to it.  A shroud of darkness hid the tunnel's end from her.

            _This was supposed to be my vacation_, Lara thought dismally as she peered into the gloom.

            Finally, she pulled in a deep breath and began to make her way down the tunnel.  Lara didn't even hear the trap door slide shut behind her as she continued her descent into the bowels of the Temple of Kinich Ahau.

                                                            *          *          *

            Alex's men had never seen him like this before.  His hair was matted, his clothes were covered with mud, and his eyes had a crazy glint in them.  All of the men had always had a healthy fear of their boss, but right now they were terrified of him.

            After the tree had fallen, it had taken a while to get everyone reorganized.  Things had only gotten worse as more trees fell and the storm intensified.  Finally, Alex had managed to herd them all into a one of the palaces that still had most of its roof intact.  A quick head count came up nine men short.  How many of them were dead and how many of them were simply lost was anybody's guess.  Right then it didn't really matter.

            What did matter was the state of mind of their leader.  His frenzied condition was a bad sign.  Alex never lost his cool in front of his own men.

            After stamping around the room for a few minutes he managed to bring himself under control.  Barely.

            "Tucker," he barked at one of his officers, "take half of the men out to the helicopters.  I need all of the artifacts to be loaded within half an hour.  Go.  Now!"  Tucker gathered up the men as quickly as he could and led them out into the storm.

            Alex addressed the remaining men.  "You are going to guard the area around the temple.  I don't know what Miss Croft is planning, but she may not have come alone.  Patrol the area in pairs.  If you see anyone you don't think you recognize, fire."  Alex started for the door with his M16 in hand.

            "What about Croft?" asked one of the men.  "Shouldn't we go looking for her?"

            "No," Alex said without turning his head.  "I'll take care of our annoying colleague.  I know exactly where she is."  Then he too was swallowed by the dark tempest.

                                                            *          *          *

            The tunnel stretched on and on.  Its curve let it spiral down slowly into the depths of the temple.  Despite the urgency of the situation, Lara had the presence of mind to move slowly.  She knew that the careless explorer was a dead explorer, and right now she could not afford to die.

            The walls and floor of the tunnel sported a few cracks, but showed no other sign of decay or deterioration.  If any moss had been living in the temple's depths, the Chol had cleaned it all out.  In many places there were glyphs carved into the walls that looked as clear as they had been on the day the Mayan scribe had first chiseled them into being.  This whole temple was a gold mine, not just for grave robbers, but for archaeologists.  And it would be able to tell them even more if the artifacts that had been stolen from it were returned.  Lara saw many niches and shelves that had obviously borne statues and offerings until recently.  Their absence fueled Lara's anger.  She had to stop Alex from leaving with them.  The things that were packed inside those crates could tell the archaeological world volumes about the Mayan civilization.  But she could be certain that Alex would not attempt to take off while the storm continued to rage outside.

            As she descended deeper into the temple, she began to feel warmer.  The air felt humid.  _There may be hot springs down here somewhere_, she thought.  _And where there are hot springs, there is steam.  And where there is steam, there could be machines._  After her experience at the Temple of Chac, she had no doubts that the Mayan engineers were capable of constructing anything that they thought was necessary.

            At last the path straightened and began to slope down at a much steeper angle.  Lining both walls were large statues of Kinich Ahau, the jaguar-like forms leering at each other from opposite sides of the passage.  As she worked her way down, Lara had to concentrate solely on keeping her footing.  She did not want to roll all the way down to the bottom of this slope.

            As she picked her way down carefully, she noticed a smell in the air.  It reminded her of the burnt smell that came out of the oven whenever she attempted to cook anything.  She stopped moving to try to identify it, but when she put her foot down she felt the rock beneath her depress slightly.  A hissing sound issued form the mouth of the nearest Kinich Ahau statues.

            Lara reacted without thinking.  She dropped to the ground and rolled past the pair of statues.  As she did, a roar filled the passage as jets of flame blew out from the mouths of the stone likenesses of Kinich Ahau.  Intense heat filled the passage at once.

            Lara barely managed to halt her slide, but she heard the next pair of statues hissing now as well.  If they fired, she would be trapped in the inferno between them and the ones behind her.

            Covering her face with her arms, she threw herself forward as the fire flew from the mouths of the statues.  There was a moment of excruciating pain as she ran through the flame, but she emerged from it alive.  She could smell her singed clothes and hair and could feel the pain of the burnt flesh on her arms, but she couldn't stop.  Already the next pair of statues was hissing.

            Lara flew down the slope, staying just ahead of the flames.  She was moving so fast down the steep slope that she was completely under gravity's control.  She would not be able to stop until she reached the bottom.

            The passage seemed to fall into the earth forever.  Finally, she could see the passage open out into a room ahead of her, but she could not slow down.  She ran into the room, her feet pounding on the stone floor.  She struggled to reduce her momentum, but was still moving very fast when she ran into a wall.  She stumbled backwards, dazed and hurting, but still alive.

            She heard a crunch behind her and turned to see that a stone had fallen across the entrance to the room.  Apparently her journey through the Mayan funhouse wasn't over.

            A scraping noise to her left alerted her to her next challenge.  She lit a new flare and turned to face it.  A wall was grinding its way towards her.  Lara knew what it would mean if the she did not get out of this room quickly.

            A quick glance around the room revealed no exits.  Lara rapidly began searching the walls for any sign of a hidden passageway.  The Mayans had to have left a way out.

            Lara could find no gaps or triggers on the walls and started searching the floor.  As she worked, she could here the ominous rumbling of the wall.  She covered the entire floor, but found nothing.

            A quick look at the moving wall told her that her time was running out.  It would crush her in less than a minute.

            Desperate for an exit, she studied the roof of the room.  Along the wall opposite the moving wall was a small square stone that looked as if it might be covering a trap door.  Unfortunately, the roof of the room was almost a meter above her head.  If it was an exit, she couldn't reach it.

            Still, it was her only option, and she studied the wall beneath it, looking for a switch that would open it.  This time, she noticed a small piece of rock in the wall that had a crack running around it.  She pressed it, and it sunk into the wall.  She looked up to see a hole gaping above her head where the square stone had been.  She leaped up, reaching into the hole, but her fingers slid uselessly along smooth rock.  She pulled the heavy M16 from her shoulders and tossed it to the floor.  Then she tried again.  She still could find no handholds.  If there was a ladder, it was out of her reach.

            _So that still leaves me one meter short of an exit_, Lara thought anxiously.  The wall was only a couple meters from her now, and coming closer.

            An idea entered her head, and her stomach clenched at the thought of trying it, but she could see no alternative.

            By now the walls of the room were only a little over a meter apart.  Lara pressed her back against the wall directly beneath the opening in the ceiling.

            When the moving wall was less than a meter away, she lifted her right leg and placed her foot on it, her back still pressed against the wall behind her.  She quickly did the same with her left leg.  She slid her body upwards as far she could, maintaining the pressure that kept her back pressed against the stationary wall.  Then she took her right foot off of the moving wall and placed it half a meter higher up, and then her left leg.  She slid up as far as she could again.  Slowly, Lara walked up the wall.

            As they walls drew closer together, Lara continued to force her way up the narrowing gap towards the opening in the ceiling.  She breathed heavily, well aware that one slip would end everything.

            The gap closed to three-quarters of a meter, then a half of a meter.  Lara's knees were pressed almost into her chest.  She was high enough now to reach her hands up into the opening, but she still felt nothing that she could grab onto.  She pushed herself up even higher, the gap too narrow now to allow her to raise her legs up anymore.

            Suddenly, her groping hands brushed against a protrusion in the rock wall.  She immediately grasped it, letting her body relax so that she was hanging by her hands.  She pulled herself up, reaching higher, finding another handhold, moving steadily upwards.  She felt her dangling legs brushing against both of the walls beneath her.  She continued to pull herself up.  She heard the crunch as the walls smashed the M16 between them, flattening it like a pop can.

            The walls slammed together.  Lara wiggled her toes to make sure that everything was still there.  Satisfied, she resumed her climb.

            The tunnel continued straight up for several meters before it turned ninety degrees into a horizontal passageway.  Lara pulled herself up into the new tunnel and stood.

            The passage wasn't very long.  Lara could see the room it opened out into.  The walls of the room ahead were lit with the flickering glow of fires.  She could just barely hear someone talking.

            _It's time to end this thing once and for all_, Lara declared to herself as she walked cautiously towards the room.  One way or another, she was sure that this adventure was about to come to a close.

                                                            *          *          *

            The men in the city were stunned to see the rain let up so suddenly and the wind die down so quickly.  They thought that the raging storm was over.  In truth, it was only a temporary respite.  The eye of the hurricane was passing over their heads, and with it came a false tranquility.  The hurricane's journey across the heavens had slowed until it nearly stopped.  The giant whirling vortex remained in a fixed position, centered over the Temple of Kinich Ahau, its single colossal eye staring with great interest at the events transpiring below.

                                                            *          *          *

            Lara peeked around the corner into the central room of the Temple of Kinich Ahau.  Torches along its walls burned brightly, dispelling the gloom.  Several other tunnels led off from the room, making Lara wonder how vast the temple really was.  Scattered throughout the room were bare pedestals and empty shelves where treasures honoring Kinich Ahau had stood until recently.  In the center of the room was a hot spring.  The steam rising from the pool filled the room with misty air.  Lying next to the pool was a large stone sarcophagus.  Uaxahpu stood beside the immense coffin, his head bent, muttering an unintelligible prayer.  The codex was nowhere to be seen.

            Lara pointed her pistols at him.  "Where's the codex?" she demanded.  Uaxahpu totally ignored her.

            "Answer me!" Lara shouted at him.  Uaxahpu continued to mumble without acknowledging her.

            _Should I just kill him?_ Lara wondered nervously.  _What if I can't find the codex after he is dead?  Someone else could find it and use it._  Her fingers twitched against the triggers.

            Before she could decide, Uaxahpu stopped speaking and straightened up.  Now he turned to look at her.

            "It's almost over, Lara," he said solemnly.  "The ritual is just one step away from being fulfilled.  Isn't it incredible?  Finally, we Maya will get the respect we deserve.  What do you think of that?"

            _I think you're getting crazier by the minute.  _"Where did you put the codex, Uaxahpu?"

            He ignored the question.  "Do you see this sarcophagus, Lara?  Do you know whose body is lying within it?"  He didn't stop to hear her response.  "The Great Chol Chieftain, Muaxix."  He looked at the lid of the sarcophagus like one who gazes upon the face of God.  "He fought the war with the Yucatan Maya to bring glory to Kinich Ahau.  He was only defeated because of Chac's hurricane.  Now, I will fulfill his dream of banishing Chac from the earth.  The whole world will have to bow towards the might of Kinich Ahau.  There is just one more thing to do."

            Uaxahpu looked at Lara with eyes that chilled her to the core.  A murderous grin spread slowly across his face.  "Do you know what the final step is, Lara?"

            "No, and I don't care.  Where is the codex?"

            "You know the final step, Lara.  It was written on the stelae, remember?  It was the reason Muaxix had to go to war with the Yucatan Maya.  He needed someone for the final ritual."

            Lara inhaled sharply.  She remembered.

            Uaxahpu's grin widened.  "Yes, Lara.  For the final ritual, a nobly born warrior who fights in Chac's name must be sacrificed.  And you, Lara Croft, daughter of Lord Henshingly Croft and admitted warrior of Chac, will make the perfect sacrifice for Kinich Ahau.

            _Never_, thought Lara.  She pulled the triggers.

            Lara's shots went wild as she was hit viciously in the side.  Lara fell to the ground, her side in agony, as her pistols slid across the floor.  Her head hit the ground with a crack, and the pain clouded her thoughts.  She felt her hands being bound tightly behind her back.  Then she was jerked to her feet.

            "Come on, Lara," Alex sneered.  "You don't want to leave the show early.  You'll miss the grand finale."

            "Thank you, Alex," Uaxahpu said happily.  "I hadn't expected her to make it through the traps before I was finished with these incantations.  Now help me bring her to the roof for the sacrifice."

            "I don't give a damn about your stupid sacrifice.  I think I'll just kill her now.  How appropriate for the world's most famous tomb raider to die in a tomb."  Alex pressed the barrel of his M16 to Lara chin.

            "No!" shouted Uaxahpu.  "Alex, we had a deal!  You get the treasures, I get to perform my ritual.  She must be sacrificed on the altar.  Please!  You owe me this, Alex."

            Alex wavered for a moment, then relented.  "Fine.  But we do it right now."

            "Yes," agreed Uaxahpu.  "Right now."

                                                            *          *          *

            Lara was still a little woozy as they forced her down one of the passages leading away from the tomb.  She struggled to collect her thoughts and formulate a plan.

            They wound their way through the passage with Uaxahpu leading the way with a torch.  Lara followed him closely, and Alex followed her, his rifle aimed at her back.

            Lara tested the knots Alex had used to tie her hands.  She could not loosen them.  The urgency of her situation weighed down upon her.  Her body ached from the burns and blows it had sustained.  She was weaponless and trapped.  Escape seemed unlikely.

            The tunnel ended at a spiraling staircase.  They ascended it without pausing.  Lara's mind raced furiously.  She knew her time was running out.

            _Think, Lara, think_, she told herself.

            The staircase ended at a solid wall.  Uaxahpu pressed a stone on the wall and a trap door opened in the roof.

            Through the opening Lara could see the ceiling of the hut on top of the temple.

            _This must be the trap door Uaxahpu disappeared down_, she thought angrily.  If she had been able to open it, she could have bypassed all of the traps.

            Uaxahpu quickly climbed out through the trap door.  Then he turned around and reached down to grab Lara's arm.  Alex pushed her up from behind.  Together they lifted the struggling Lara out of the tunnel.

            _If I'm going to try something, this is my chance_, Lara thought.  Alex was still in the tunnel and Uaxahpu was off-balance from pulling her.  _I'm not going down without a fight._

            As soon as she was on the floor of the hut, she lashed out with her foot, sending Uaxahpu sprawling.  She heard Alex curse behind her as he struggled to pull himself up.  She made a dash for the hut's exit.

            Then she was out in the open air, and was astonished to see that the storm had completely dissipated.  The giant jaguar statues were an even more incredible sight in the daylight, and the sacrificial altar an even more menacing one.  She heard someone coming after her and she ran toward the stairs leading down the side of the temple.

            With her arms tied behind her back she was unable to run very quickly.  The stone roof of the temple was slick, and she struggled to maintain her balance.

            Suddenly her foot slipped on a mossy stone and she fell down.  Before she could get back on her feet someone grabbed her from behind.

            Lara fought viciously, kicking her assailant and attempting to twist free of his grasp.

            "Alex!  Hurry!  I can't hold her!"  Uaxahpu cried.

            Alex reached them just as Lara was beginning to break free.  He grabbed her roughly and swung her around.  Lara fought back, but she was ineffective without the use of her hands.  Alex forced her over to the altar and held her down on top of it.

            Uaxahpu hurried over to the altar.  He reached into the folds of his robe and pulled out the folded codex.  He opened it and began another chant.

            Lara could see the dark stains on the altar from the hundreds of other men and women who had been the victims of sacrifices at this temple over a millennium ago.  She did not want to join their sad number.  She squirmed against Alex's grip.

            "Perform your damn ritual, Uaxahpu!  She won't hold still!"

            _Damn right I won't hold still!  I'll fight you to the end, Alex!  As long as there is the slightest prayer of living, I'll keep fighting!_

            And with a roar, her prayer was answered.

                                                            *          *          *

            The hurricane's eye moved on, and the raging tempest returned to Cholenque.

                                                            *          *          *

            The wind tore the codex from Uaxahpu's hands and nearly knocked him over as well.  Lara was instantly soaked by the downpour, but she didn't notice.  She was only interested in getting away from Alex.  He struggled to hold onto her, and she beat at him with her feet.

            The codex hit Alex's chest and stuck there, held in place by the wind.  Uaxahpu cried out and snatched the codex back.

            "Hurry up, Uaxahpu!" Alex shouted at him above the wind.

            Lara continued to struggle against Alex, hoping her wet skin would loosen his grip.

            Uaxahpu consulted the codex and spoke.  "It's time, Lara."

            He pulled his knife from his belt.

            _Not if I can help it_, she thought.

            Lara felt Alex's grip on her slipping.

            "Kinich Ahau, I give you this soul..."

            "Just kill her, you fool!"

            Lara could hear her blood pounding in her ears.

            "...to bring you the glory you deserve..."

            Alex was fighting hard to keep Lara on the altar.

            "Now, Uaxahpu!  She's getting away!"

            "...and to banish Chac into the underworld..."

            Lara brought her knee up into Alex's face.

            "...for eternity!"

            Uaxahpu raised the knife into the air.  Lara shoved Alex off of her and scrambled to get to the other side of the altar.  Uaxahpu's knife shot down towards her, seeking her heart.  Then there was a blinding flash and a deafening boom, and Lara was on the ground with the altar between her and her enemies.  Lara crouched and pressed her back to the altar's great stone slab.

            The afterimage of the lightning bolt made it difficult for Lara to see.  She tried to listen for Alex and Uaxahpu above the noise of the storm.

            Footsteps coming from her left alerted her of Alex's approach, and she scuttled around the right side of the altar.  She heard the crack of the rifle as she dived around the corner.  Chunks of rock flew where the bullets struck stone.

            "Lara!" shouted Alex behind her.  "Lara, come out!  We're not leaving here until we're finished!"

            Lara heard him coming towards her again, so she crawled around to another side of the altar.  Her hands came down on something large and warm.  She squinted down at the object.  It was Uaxahpu's corpse.

            His steel knife still glowed red where the lightning bolt had struck it.  Lara choked as the smell of burnt hair and flesh entered her nostrils.  Gagging, she searched his body.  She found the codex still clutched in his hand.  She pried his fingers from it and stuffed it into her pack.

            "You can't hide forever, Lara!" Alex shouted into the wind.  "Stop wasting time!"

            _Great_, thought Lara.  _One lunatic dies and now I have to deal with another._  She wrested Uaxahpu's knife from his other hand and began cutting away at the rope that bound her wrists.

            "Okay, Lara," Alex said with a voice dripping with acid, "You can hide there all night if you want to, but if you don't want those artifacts to be sold on the black market, you're going to have to come after me."  Lara heard his footsteps as he ran toward the staircase.  "See you soon, Miss Croft!" he shouted back at her.  The sound of footsteps was soon lost in the howling of the wind.

            As soon as she was sure he was gone, Lara stood up and started toward the stairs, her hands free.

            She ran down the slippery steps of the Temple of Kinich Ahau.  Alex had already disappeared into the storm, but Lara knew where the helicopters were, and she knew that she would find him there.  He was going to try to take off in the storm.  It would mean suicide for him and his men--and destruction for all of the Mayan artifacts in the helicopters.

            As soon as her feet touched the wet ground of the clearing she broke into a full sprint.  She remembered where Alex's men had hacked the path from the helicopters to the city clearing.  She rounded the corner of the temple and headed straight for it.

            Gunfire tore through the sky to Lara's left.  She dropped to the ground.  She could just make out the figure of a man.  Another burst of light and sound, and bullets dug furrows into the ground in front of her face.

            Lara got to her feet and ran away from the gunman.  The crack of gunshots followed her.  She reached a pile of rubble that had once been the wall of a Mayan palace and jumped behind it.  She gripped Uaxahpu's knife tightly in her hand and waited.

            For a full minute, the only sounds she heard were the crash of thunder, the howling of the wind, the roar of the rain, and the beating of her own heart.  Then she made out the squishing sound of the gunmen's approaching footsteps on the wet ground.  Lara remained motionless as he neared her hiding spot.

            The footsteps came to a stop on the other side of the mound of debris.  Both the predator and the prey remained silent, listening for a clue from the other.  The gunman lost his patience before Lara.

            As soon as Lara heard him start climbing over the debris, she sprung up and tackled him.  She drove the knife into his gut before he could even cry out.  He crumpled to the ground.  Lara bent to retrieve his weapon.  Too late, Lara saw the other man.

            The man's partner had approached the rubble from the other side, so Lara had not heard him coming.  Even as she looked now, he was pulling the trigger of his uzi.  Lara threw herself to the ground, as if that would do anything to protect her.

            But instead of feeling hot lead tear into her flesh, Lara watched in stunned silence as a spear suddenly seemed to sprout from the man's chest.   He squeezed off a burst of gunfire as he fell to the ground, screaming.

            A shadowy figure appeared through the rain, walking towards the fallen gunmen.  It was Puah.  He crouched beside the still-moaning gunman and grasped his spear where it protruded from the man's back.  Then with a vicious tug, he tore it out of the man's body.  The gunman let out a bloodcurdling shriek before falling silent for the last time.

            Puah stood and walked over to Lara and helped her to her feet.

            "I didn't think you were coming," Lara said breathlessly.

            "We came when Chac told us to come," Puah said quietly.  In the distance, Lara could her more gunshots and screams.  The Mayan warriors were attacking.  Alex's mercenaries would be no match for these people of the jungle.

            "I have the codex," Lara informed Puah.  She paused for a moment.  "Uaxahpu is dead," she said hesitantly.

            Puah stiffened, then nodded slowly.  "His actions brought death upon himself.  It… it is best that he is dead."

            Lara didn't know what to say, so she changed the subject.

            "I need to get to the helicopter clearing.  Are any of your men there?"

            "No," he answered, "not yet.  But I will tell my best warriors to head there to assist you."

            "Thank you," she replied.  She stuffed Uaxahpu's knife into her belt.  Then she quickly took each gunman's uzi and ran off towards the landing site.

            "Remember, you must destroy the codex!" Puah called after her.  But Lara was gone.

                                                            *          *          *

            Broken branches and giant fern leaves blew in the wind and whipped Lara's face and chest as she ran down the path that led to the helicopter clearing, but she did not let them slow her down.  Alex had too much of a lead.  She would not let him get away with the artifacts.

            When she reached the clearing she was dismayed to see that the helicopters' rotors were already spinning.  The crates had all been loaded and the few men that had made it back to the clearing alive were all on board.

            Lara wasted no time.  She aimed her uzis at the cockpit of the nearest helicopter and let loose a long volley of gunfire.  The cockpit window shattered and bullet holes appeared in the helicopter's metallic skin.  She heard several cries come from within the vehicle.  When she was sure she had grounded it, she ran on to the next one.

            This helicopter was already taking off.  Lara fired at it, but the bullets could do little damage on the underside of the helicopter, and she quickly ran out of ammo.  It rose up, adding its own wind to that of the hurricane's.

            _They're getting away!_ Lara thought frantically.  But they weren't.

            Before the helicopter could clear the trees on the sides of the clearing, it began to drift to the right.  The pilot could not keep the aircraft steady in the intense wind of the hurricane.  As the helicopter drifted closer to the trees it began to hack off small branches.  Then a rotor blade smashed into a tree trunk.  The rotor snapped off and the helicopter plummeted twenty meters to the earth.  The machine smashed into the ground, its frame crumpling like tin foil.

            _Two down, one to go_, Lara thought.  She tossed the useless guns aside and ran towards the last functional helicopter.

            It began to lift off the ground as Lara neared it.  She took a running leap and reached out for the helicopter's runner.  She caught it and swung herself up to crouch on it.

            The helicopter rose quickly, the pilot fighting the wind the whole way up.  Lara could see the Mayan warriors pouring into the clearing now.  They would make short work of the few men still alive in the two damaged aircraft, but they could not help her bring this one down.  She would have to stop these men by herself.

            Lara knew that the pilot of this helicopter had to be very good, or they would have crashed by now.  When the aircraft finally cleared the treetops and was exposed to the wind's full force, it nearly went out of control.  Lara clung to the runner for dear life.  After several terrifying seconds, the pilot steadied the craft.

            _This is as good a chance as I'm going to get_, thought Lara.  She reached for the door's latch.

            With one motion, Lara pulled the latch, threw the door open, and leaped inside.  She saw five men clinging to the stacks of crates in the back, plus the pilot and copilot up front.  The men in the back were stunned by her sudden appearance, and Lara didn't give them a chance to recover from their surprise.

            She charged at the nearest man and knocked him to the floor.  He tried to pull his semi-automatic pistol from his holster, but Lara delivered a kick to his ribs that made him howl.  She took the weapon from him and rolled away.  She came up facing the others.

            Two of the men had reacted quickly enough that they had drawn their guns as well, but they were still confused by Lara's presence, and that gave Lara a huge advantage.  She squeezed off a couple rounds into one man's chest, then dived behind a stack of crates.  One of the other men fired off a couple rounds, but none came close to Lara.

            Knowing that her advantage of surprise would wear off quickly, Lara waited only a moment before peering around the crates and firing off a few more rounds.  This time, the reports of several guns filled the helicopter's cabin as all of the men returned fire.

            Lara pulled back behind her wooden shield, but suddenly the floor wasn't where it should have been.  The pilot had tilted the helicopter to throw her off balance.  Now she was sliding towards the open door.

            Lara searched for something to grab on to, but the helicopter's smooth steel floor gave her nothing.  She felt her legs drop out of the aircraft and into the open air.  At the last second she grabbed on to the edge of the doorframe.  With one hand holding onto the doorframe and the other gripping the automatic, Lara tried to pull herself back into the cabin.

            Lara heard a scream and saw a blur of motion as one, then two of the grave robbers fell out of the open door.  Another man fell out but caught on to the other side of the doorframe.  Lara aimed her weapon at him, but a fourth man falling out of the helicopter knocked into him and made him lose his grip.  Together, they fell through the sky until they disappeared into the rain forest canopy twenty meters below.

            Lara peered into the cabin.  Of the five men that had been standing in the cargo area, only one was still inside.  The body of the man Lara had shot had gotten wedged between a couple crates.

            _Must have been his lucky day_, Lara thought with a smile.

            Shifting her gaze to the front of the helicopter, Lara saw that the copilot had removed his seatbelt.  As the pilot leveled out the helicopter, the copilot reached for an M16 rifle.

            Lara felt around with her feet until they struck the helicopter's runner.  She planted her feet on it.  She waited a moment to steady herself, then let go of the door frame.  As she dropped to the runner, the copilot fired a volley of bullets through the helicopter door. Lara was below the edge of the door, and the bullets passed over her harmlessly.

            Lara wrapped her arms and legs around the runner.  Now she had to wait.  If the copilot thought that she had fallen, he would come over to close the door, allowing her to shoot him with ease.  If he realized that she was trying to trick him, he would be more cautious.

            The helicopter was now flying over Cholenque.  So many trees had blown over that most of the site lay open to view.  The Temple of Kinich Ahau was even more intimidating when seen from the air, as it dwarfed all of the other structures around it.

            Lara returned her attention to the door.  It had been almost a minute, and the copilot had not attempted to close it.  He had to suspect something.

            Another minute ticked by.  Lara became nervous.  _Should I take a peek?_ she wondered.  No, she would wait.  He had to close the door sooner or later.

            Without warning, the copilot appeared in the doorway.  He had walked all the way around the helicopter in order to approach the door from her blind spot.  It took him only a split second to spot her and level the rifle at her.

            Lara reacted instantly.  She held onto the runner with her hands while she threw her legs up.  She wrapped them around the barrel of the rifle and twisted it away from her.  The copilot pulled the trigger, and the rifle emitted a stream of gunfire.  The gun's barrel burned Lara's thighs, but the bullets missed her body.

            Lara pulled hard on the rifle and turned her body.  The copilot, too excited to think of letting go of the rifle, was pulled out along with it.  Lara released her hold on the weapon, and it and its owner fell all of the way to the floor of the clearing.

            Lara regained her footing on the runner and pulled herself up into the cabin.  She strode over to the pilot and pressed the barrel of the semi-automatic pistol to his temple.

            "Land the helicopter in the clearing," she demanded.

            "I don't think so, Miss Croft," Alex, the pilot, sneered at her.  "I'd rather die than go to jail, and if I'm going to die, I'm going to take you with me."

            He dropped the helicopter into a dive and made a grab for the gun.  Lara fired, but the shot went wild.  Alex grabbed the gun barrel and tried to pull it away from Lara.  The helicopter was spinning crazily with no one steering it.  The Temple of Kinich Ahau loomed closer in the cockpit window.

            Lara and Alex struggled for possession of the gun.  They were both pulling with both hands now, and Lara's grip was slipping.  She risked another glance out the window.  The helicopter would smash into the side of the temple in seconds.  The helicopter was flying too wildly now to be saved.

            Lara let go of the gun with one hand and reached down to her waist.  She pulled Uaxahpu's knife from her belt.

            Alex finally succeeded in wrenching the gun from hands.  An insane grin crossed his face as he aimed the weapon.

            Lara buried the knife in Alex's chest.  Blood spurted from the wound and sprayed the cockpit controls.  Alex's eyes glazed over, but Lara didn't see it.  She was already standing at the door.

            The helicopter was over forty meters off the ground.  She would be killed if she tried to jump out, and the steep sides of the temple threatened to smash her into oblivion.

            Then she saw the jaguar statue.  It was one of the two mammoth statues that jutted out over the sides of the temple.  The helicopter would pass close to it in a moment.  If she could reach it…

            Lara backed away from the door to give herself a running start.  When the helicopter came even with the statue, Lara took a running leap.  Even as she lunged forward, she knew that she would never make it.  It was over fifteen meters from the helicopter to the statue.

            The world seemed to slow as she sailed through the air.  The powerful wind of the hurricane was at her back, pushing her forward.  The statue kept coming closer and closer.  _I'm flying!_ Lara thought giddily.  Her hands stretched out in front of her.  They closed on the lower jaw of the giant stone cat.

            Lara hung from the statue's mouth and watched the helicopter as it continued its doomed course.  It had almost made it past the corner of the temple when its rotor blades came too close to the temple's side.  The blades shattered against it, and the helicopter crashed down onto the temple wall.  It rolled down the steep pyramid, tossing bits and pieces of its steel frame in all directions until it came to a smashing halt on the ground.

            Lara let out the breath that she had been holding.  She pulled herself up onto the jaguar's head and carefully climbed down its back until she could set her unsteady feet on the temple's summit again.  She looked down at the helicopter's wreckage.

            A small fire had broken out in the helicopter's interior.  The crates would soon be set ablaze.  If she could find some of the Mayan warriors quickly, they may be able to salvage some of the artifacts.

            A small smile formed on her lips.  _Well Alex_, she thought as she stared at the burning wreck, _you avoided Kinich Ahau's fury, and you might have survived Chac's fury, but _no one_ can escape Lara's fury._

            Then she turned her back on the flaming pile of twisted metal and made her way carefully down the stairs of the Temple of Kinich Ahau.

                                                            *          *          *

            The devastating hurricane died almost as quickly as it had been born.  Within a day after striking the countries of Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras, the tempest had broken up into several large, but relatively weak, storms.  Heavy rains would continue for over a week, but the worst was over.  The people who had been caught in the storm's path buried their dead, repaired what they could, and began the long process of rebuilding what had been destroyed.  As the storm moved on, so did the people.

                                                            *          *          *

            The cenote's surface rippled in the gentle breeze.  Lara gazed past her distorted reflection and into the pool's depths.

            _Hello, Panichi_, Lara thought at it.

            The rainstorms brought on by the hurricane had swollen the cenote to twice its natural size, but it was already draining back down.  The ground was still wet from the most recent storm, and the rumbling of thunder could still be heard coming from the horizon.  It had stopped raining just moments before Lara had arrived, but it wouldn't have mattered even if it were still coming down in torrents.  She had come here to think.  She had to decide what to do about the codex.

            Three days had passed since the Guatemalan Army had rescued Lara from the rain forest.  The Guatemalan government saw to it that the artifacts would be transported to museums and universities instead of the private collections of the rich elite.   Miraculously, very few of the artifacts were severely damaged.  Alex's men had packed them into the crates very well.  After all, any damage that came to the artifacts would have meant a loss of profit for the tomb raiders.

            The Chol tribe also gained from the events.  Several reporters were allowed to visit the site, and Puah was interviewed.  The international coverage he and his tribesmen received would prevent the Guatemalan government from ever trying to destroy their lifestyle again.

            After returning from Cholenque, Lara had spent a couple days trying to lie low, hoping the media sensation would die down.  It did, a little.  But Lara had enjoyed those days, which she had spent with Sam, Mason, and Juanita.  Mason had apologized for ever doubting her, and in just those few days, Lara and Juanita had become very good friends.  Lara promised Sam that she would keep in touch with him, and let him know whenever she was about to do something suicidal.  Jennie had returned to England without speaking to Lara, and Lara suspected that she never would, but it didn't bother her anymore.  She knew that Jennie was wrong about her.

            Lara and Sam also told Mason about the artifacts they had seen in the altar room of the Temple of Chac.  Some special equipment was due to arrive the next day that would allow Mason and his dig team to take pictures underground to see if the golden room was salvageable.

            It was amazing that so much good could come from such a terrible tragedy.  The hurricane had left in its wake one of the highest death tolls for a natural disaster in recorded history.  The body count continued to rise, as did the damage estimates.  Meteorologists were under fire for not giving accurate advanced warnings.  The cause of the massive hurricane was being blamed on everything from global warming to a sign from God.  No one ever seemed to wonder which god, though.

            The damage the hurricane had done to the ruins at Cholenque was considerable, but not catastrophic.  The falling trees had obliterated many of the smaller buildings.  The helicopter had scarred one side of the temple, but it had not done any major damage.  And despite the beating the city had received, it was still the best-preserved site of Mayan ruins ever found.

            But Lara had not told anyone that the Codex of Kinich Ahau's Fury had survived the destruction at Cholenque.  She still had not decided whether to destroy it or not.

            She had studied the codex more carefully in her hotel room in Cancun.  It contained many Mayan symbols that she was unfamiliar with.  In the right hands, it could probably be used to help learn the meanings of more Mayan glyphs, which would lead to a better understanding of Mayan history.  But in the wrong hands…

            Nothing had happened over the course of her adventure that could not be explained away by coincidence.  Her dream, the hurricane, the attacking jaguars, Puah's messages, the lightning bolt that had struck Uaxahpu.  All of them could have occurred by mere chance.

            Or maybe they hadn't.  Maybe the events had been coaxed along by an invisible power.  But if they had, she could never prove it, even to herself.  And that only served to make the decision even more frustrating.  If the ritual in the codex truly had power, then allowing it to be studied and copied by the archaeological community would be out of the question.  Some day another crazed man bent on revenge would come along to perform the ritual, and the world would die for it.  On the other hand, if the ritual were just an ancient lie, she would be destroying a priceless historic artifact.

            Lara reached into her box of flares and pulled out the codex.  She stared at it for a long moment, trying to divine its secrets.

            _Is it possible?  Might Chac and Kinich Ahau be real?_ she wondered.

            The archaeological world would never forgive her if it were discovered that she had intentionally destroyed such a valuable artifact.  She wasn't sure if she could forgive herself.  It was bad enough to have accidentally brought about the destruction of the town of Panichi, but to purposely destroy such an artifact?  She loved history and loved helping the world learn more about history.  She wanted to know what all of the glyphs on the codex meant.  She wanted to use the codex to learn more about the Mayan people.  She thirsted for the knowledge.

            _You should keep in mind what curiosity did to the cat, Miss Croft._  Alex's words echoed in her mind.  Lara's curiosity had gotten her into enough trouble in the past.  Could she risk letting her curiosity destroy the world?

            Lara reached into her pack and pulled out a book of matches.  She lit one and watched the tiny flame flare up.  She held the codex over the flame, watched as it smoked, then caught on fire.  The paper curled and turned black.  The ash fell through the air and disappeared into the waters of the cenote.  The Codex of Kinich Ahau's Fury was destroyed.

            Lara turned from the rippling waters of the cenote and started the long walk back to her car.  She wondered whether she had made the right choice.

            _Perhaps some questions are better left unanswered_, she thought.  In the distance, the sky rumbled in agreement.

**The End**


End file.
